Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Proud Muslims celebrated the birth of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)with a holy march.

Hundreds of Islamic followers from around the country gathered in West Town to pay tribute to the prophet who founded their religion.It was also a chance for the national Naqshbandiya Aslamia group to remember key Islam figure Sheik Khawaja Sufi Muhammed Islam, who died in 1999 after founding their group.Kadafi Sadiq, member of the Naqshbandiya Aslamia committee, said: "This is a big message for the Muslim youth. It is a big attraction for them and it is the first time many have got to go on a really big event.

"It is a chance for us to tell them that the Prophet Muhammed came to spread a peaceful lifestyle and the message of this religion."

The march was organised by one of the late Sheik's disciples, Sufi Yusuf, from Peterborough, in honour of his mentor.The march set out from Mr Yusuf's home, in Alderman's Drive, and included city residents, as well as people from London, Manchester and York. It ended at the Madrassa Qassimmyia in Bamber Street, where prominent poets and scholars gave poetry readings and speeches.

The main guest of the day was Sufi Muhammed Asghur, who has taken over as head of the organisation.

Mr Sadiq said: "The speeches gave people a chance to express their views about things going on in the world, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."It got people talking about what we can do to follow the lifestyle and example of the Prophet Muhammed and make this world a better place."

Merapi holds a sacred—and deadly—significance for the villagers who seek its protection.

The Indonesian province of Central Java is charged with mysticism: animist spirits, Hindu gods, Sufi saints. One of the most sacred sites is a magnificent 3,000-m peak called Merapi, which literally means "fire mountain." For centuries villagers living on its slopes and base have pledged their fate to Merapi, not just because it's an active volcano but because it provides fertile soil for them to grow food and raise cattle, and sand and stone for them to build their homes. Every year they bring Merapi gifts of food, tobacco and clothing, both to appease it and to seek its protection. The volcano even has a caretaker, appointed by a former sultan of the nearby royal city of Yogyakarta, to ensure that offerings are made and rituals observed. This is no mere mountain, but a giver of life and a deliverer of death. In recent weeks Merapi has been showing its uncharitable side. A series of small eruptions has darkened the sky with hot clouds of gas, raining ash on the fields below, and discharging streams of lava down the mountain. By last Saturday, the dome remained intact, but threatened to blow at any time. "We are still at the highest alert status," says Subandrio, director of the Merapi-observation division of Indonesia's Center of Volcanological Research and Technology in Yogyakarta. "An explosion is still very possible."

When Merapi last erupted 12 years ago, 60 people were scorched to death by 300°C smoke. And since the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, which claimed 170,000 Indonesian lives, the government has been especially wary of the toll that can be inflicted by natural disasters. So the authorities have built dams to block the lava, set up evacuation routes, taught villagers to build bunkers, and transferred 20,000 people to makeshift shelters at least 8 km away.

Last week, however, thousands of them filed back to their homes, partly out of fear that they were being looted (they weren't). Merapi's current caretaker, 79-year-old Marijan, told reporters his dreams tell him the volcano won't blow its top, but that the eruptions are a warning to the people to fulfill their obligations to the spirits. He says he won't leave his own home, even though it's just 6 km from the summit: "If I do, I would not be guarding the mountain I have promised to guard. I would not be doing my duty." For the villagers living in Merapi's shadow, science has yet to supplant their faith in the power of their mountain.

Duma deputy Shamil Sultanov, 54, a member of the StateDuma’s Foreign Relations Committee, also heads thecoalition of Muslim deputies and has traveled theIslamic world trying to establish contacts withparliaments, governments and businesses in Muslimcountries. Ironically, he is a deputy from thenationalist Rodina party. Russia Profile Editor AndreiZolotov Jr. spoke to Sultanov on the origins of hisfaith, his view of the world and what it is like to bea practicing Muslim integrated into the Russianestablishment.

R.P.: Were you brought up in the Islamic faith, or didyou come to it yourself?

S.S.: I came to it myself. Although I am from a Muslimbackground ethnically, my parents did not observe anyrituals. My grandparents did perform salat (dailyIslamic ritual prayer), but in the strict Soviet timesit was all kept secret. I embraced the faith when Iwas 25, at the end of the 1970s. That was the timewhen our country entered a systemic crisis thatcontinues to this day. The ideologies on which we wereeducated crumbled before our eyes. It was only naturalthat many people began their search for alternativevalues then. Some people looked to the West, others toculture and yet others to the past. For me, theIslamic past of my family was one of the options.

I started to study Islamic metaphysics. In 1986, Ipublished a biography of [medieval Persian scholar andpoet] Omar Khayyam. He was a special representative ofSufism who was also connected to Neoplatonicrationalists. So, in a way, I came to Islam throughSufism and through Neoplatonic philosophers,particularly Plotin, whom I consider to be a Muslimbecause he rationally came to monotheism andinfluenced Khayyam.

My biggest interest is in the metaphysics andepistemology of Islam. You know, there is Islam andthere are present-day Muslims. Some 90 percent ofMuslims have no idea of Islam, its real spiritualtreasures.

R.P.: Where did you work at the time? Can you tell meabout your career?

S.S.: I was a senior research fellow at the MoscowInstitute of International Relations (MGIMO). There Iworked on theories of decision-making and politicalforecasting, wrote papers for the Politburo and theForeign Affairs Ministry. A lot of my papers werethrown out because my supervisors thought that what Iwrote was too complicated. In the late 1980s, therewas a failed attempt to create an Islamic RevivalParty of the Soviet Union. But then the Soviet Unionfell apart, and there was nothing left of the party.

At one point, I worked at the Institute of ForeignEconomic Relations, where together with several otherromantics I created a department of concept modeling.It was clear that what was happening to the SovietUnion was part of a strategic game, but ourgerontocracy had no strategy. We cherished the dreamof developing a strategy for our country, around whicha new elite could eventually consolidate. But nothingever came of it.

In 1990, it became pointless, everything wascrumbling, and I left for the newspaper that laterbecame known as Zavtra. I helped found the paper andserved as deputy to Alexander Prokhanov. Of all thelabels I have been called - a fascist, aÊMuslimfundamentalist - I most like the label “intellectualprovocateur,” which Literaturnaya Gazeta once calledme. All of the ideas which later developed in Russia -geopolitics, Eurasianism, the New Right, you name it -all were born on the pages of Zavtra, which was alwaysquietly read in every Kremlin office.

In 1996, I left Zavtra, because Prokhanov forged analliance with the Communists. I told him “Sasha,Communists have been dead since 1993, when they wereunable to draw even 5000 people into the streets. Tobet on Communists today is like digging up a coffinand running around with it, happy that thelong-suffering bones are rattling around inside.”

I went to Yury Skokov’s Center for the Study ofInter-Regional and Inter-Ethnic Economic Problems,because I am convinced that the key problem for Russia- always - is the relationship between the center andthe regions. In 1919, the country splintered into 120pieces, and a strict dictatorship was necessary to putit back together. By the mid-1990s, we were once againfacing a stark choice - either a terrible, stupiddictatorship, or smart authoritarianism. Not ademocracy! Forget it!

Together with Skokov we created the Party of RussianRegions, which eventually joined Rodina.

R.P.: Do you not sense a conflict between being aRussian Muslim and being part of the leadership ofRodina, which is perceived as a nationalist,xenophobic party, and was even banned from running forMoscow City Duma elections because of the now famouscampaign video deemed xenophobic?

S.S.: In our party, I am in charge of Dagestan,Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and other predominantlyMuslim regions. Our party has about 150,000 memberstoday, among them about 20,000 Muslims. When I speakto a Muslim audience and people ask me how I can be amember of a Russian nationalist party, I answer that atrue Muslim would never need to ask such a question.

Everything that happens is determined by the niyat, orintention of the Almighty. If this video came out,there must have been a niyat behind it. Every niyat isaimed at the good, at justice one way or the other.Where is the good with this video? Look at theconsequences. About a year ago, there were from300,000 to 500,000 people working as slaves in Moscow- with no rights whatsoever. These people escape frompoverty, from civil war at home, and they come toMoscow because there is money here. And I guess thatthey give between $2.5 and 3 billion annually inbribes to Moscow bureaucracy. Now, you can be offendedby being called this or that in the video. But isthere a real improvement? It caused a scandal,attention was attracted to the treatment of migrants,the State Duma adopted a law on the absorption ofthese immigrants. These people gained some rights. TheKoran says that if people think that something’s good,in reality it’s bad. Likewise if people thinksomething is bad, in reality it’s good. Only theAlmighty is all-knowing.

R.P.: Does the Russian state system adequatelyaccommodate the needs of Muslims?

S.S.: Of course not. It does not understand anyreligious people, including Muslims. There are manyreasons for this - our society was atheistic, allofficial religious figures were government-controlled.But things are changing. According to the JusticeMinistry, we have about 3,000 registered jamaats[Islamic associations], and I’d say there are morethan 3,000 unregistered ones. People say there are 20million Muslims in Russia. I think there are 1.5million real Muslims at most. Some 9 to 11 million arethose who I call hypocrites. They say they are Muslimsbut, in reality, they do nothing. And among the 1.5million there are some 30,000 to 40,000 radicals,Wahhabis.

R.P.: Is it hard to be an observant Muslim believerintegrated in Russian society?

S.S.: It is hard to be a believer. Unfortunately, wehave today a widespread light, hypocritical attitudetowards religion. We have Christians who think thatwearing a cross makes them Christians, Muslims whojust proclaim shahada (the Muslim confession of faith)and think they are Muslims.

Believing is a supreme way of life that consumes allyour energy. I observe all the rituals and not onlythat - I also think. The main problem of Islam todayis that people just do things automatically.

After putting life as Mrs 007 behind her, Diane Cilento set off to find meaning in her life. Like an agile cat, Diane Cilento sees her life as a journey through nine lucky lives. But her autobiography can be more neatly divided into two: before and after Sean Connery.

Before is the sensual half: men fall at the feet of the frisky Aussie actress. After is the esoteric half: Cilento becomes the hero of her own story, searching for meaning through spiritual experimentation. Already intrigued by Buddhism, she embraces Sufism for a sense of purpose.

The division took place about 1970 when she knew "I could not live the rest of my life in the shadow of 007". Soon after, she stumbled upon In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching by P.D. Ouspensky. She barely understood it then, but the book became a key that opened a door to the second part of her life. Ouspensky had written of his studies with the mysterious Russian, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a guru and philosopher and, some have said, a charming charlatan.

Following in their wake was the British intellectual, J.C. Bennett - who, in turn, became Cilento's guru and whose ideas she finally adapted into running her Karnak Playhouse within the Daintree National Park from the 1980s.

At 72, Cilento marches on, still feeling like a child, yet knowing she is "old", and still looking for Mecca, literally. Her book, which begins poetically with her early life at Mooloolaba, ends equally serenely, with her journey last year to Mecca.

One summer night in Turkey, Jalaluddin Rumi and Shams Tebriz, his teacher, were out admiring the moon. The whole of Konya village was asleep. Shams remarked, "Behold the beauty of the moon, and look at the people sleeping in a state of unconsciousness!" Rumi responded, "They are sleeping. We should not wake them up." This prompted a reprimand from Shams, "Rumi, you are a sea of benevolence! Your job is to awaken people, whether they are of Konya, Istanbul or Damascus."

Later, when Shams went into hibernation, Rumi wrote a poem: "I remember the moon that had paled in front of my moon (Shams) because my moon is not a moon; it is a sun. O Shams! Now I suffer remembering those moments when we used to go round and round in that moonlit night and do Zikr… Let me describe that night, when the earth and sun danced and gazed at the stars in the sky. I revolved around my sun and my sun revolved around its own self."

Rumi's advice is, "Just like the Prophet kept his lips on one end of the Ney (Persian flute) and the Almighty's songs began coming out from the other end, when you empty your spirit of vanity, His songs begin echoing." There is pain and imploration in this emptiness, like in a 'sigh'. In this space, love takes birth, true love gets nurtured and blossoms.

Love, pain and devotion are central to Sufism. The pain should arise in the heart and the heart needs to implore. Then the heart lotus opens and divine love fills you, making life a celebration. We all long for love, but we look at the wrong places. Love based on mental compatibility will die soon. We delude ourselves repeatedly that we are in love, but we falter and get hurt. Love between Shams and Rumi was of the soul, therefore fulfilling. It is a blessing to fall, nay, rise in love.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Zila Khan has just returned from Pakistan and she iswaxing eloquent about the reception accorded to herthere. Home to the genre of Sufi music, Pakistan hasits own Sufi queens — Farida Khanum, Nayyara Noor,Tina Sani — but “that adds to the warmth of thewelcome”, she says.

“I had a live performance in Lahore, which wasappreciated by the audience. I sang in Iqbal’s home,which is like a shrine for a Sufi singer,” says thesinger whose rendering of Sufi compositions has madeher famous. Khan was a member of the delegation thatwent to Pakistan for the release of Taj Mahal.

“It is only when you visit that side of the borderthat you realise how similar the two cultures are. Oursense of humour is the same. We have similar tastes infood. There is so much that brings us together,” saysKhan, lamenting that cultural exchanges have been heldto ransom by political pulls.

“We are open to their artists coming to India andperforming. We have had Shafqat Ali Khan, Raahat Aliand Waaris Ali with the pop band Strings, allperforming in different cities in India. In contrastthe number of Indian artistes going across the borderis few,” she adds.

Khan has been flying in and out of the country givingperformances in not only the sub-continent but alsoWashington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Bostonwhere expatriates hanker for music from back home,whether it is Hindi film songs, Sufi music or Indipop. Talking about the increasing acceptance of Sufimusic, made more popular as Bollywood embraced it, shesays, “Sufi music is easier to understand and thelistener can identify with the words which has arustic feeling to them.” The popularity of her albumIshq Ki Naayee Baahar is a case in point. It hastraces of Sufi, folk and semi-claasical music, shesays.

However, Khan’s first love continues to be classicalmusic. Admitting that classical music can only beappreciated by the select few who understand thenuances of a raag, Khan says that “classical music isa nasha (addiction) for her. That’s where I find myinspiration,” she says, adding that her next albumwould be closer to the classical music format.

Srinagar, May 19:A one-day seminar on “Sufism and itsRelevance today” was organized by Institute of Peace,Research and Action, an NGO under project CROKSY atInstitute of Management Public Administration andRural Development here Thursday.

Light was thrown by speakers on various topics onSufism. The Sufi perspective of post modernism andSufism versus environmentalism, besides other relatedtopics were also spoken about. Giving details the organizers told that the generalobjective of the project is to work with the studentsyouth, develop and effective communication with themand operationalise on educational programme aimed atimparting the necessary knowledge, values and skillstowards a cultural regeneration and renewal of thestudent youth with a special focus on four modernvalues namely democracy, secularism, human rights andsocial justice.

Director Information Kh. Farooq Ahmad Renzu whilereferring to various upsurges in the annals ofKashmiri history said that the Kashmiri mind was veryfertile which has always resists to its subjugation byforeign elements. He said that the Kashmiri culture isa product of gradual evolution and synthesis ofvarious faiths of Hinduism Vedanta, Buddhism andIslam. He lamented the fact that the presentgeneration has unfortunately got drowned in theendless ocean of confusion. He said that the world isindebted to Kashmir for many modern day concepts ofthe democracy and secularism. (INF)

Muslims in Peterborough are set to hold a holy marchto celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammed.

The event, in West Town, will also be in remembranceof another key figure within Islam, the late SheikKhawaja Sufi Muhammad Aslam – founder of theNaqshbandiya Aslamia, who died in 1999.One of his disciples, Sufi Yusuf, who lives inPeterborough, helped organise the march, and followersfrom across the country are expected to attend.Prominent poets and scholars will give poetry readingsand speeches inspired by the occasion during theevent, which will also be attended by special guestSufi Muhammed Asghur, who has taken over the missionfrom the Sheikh.

Kadafi Sadiq, from the Naqshbandiya Aslamia Committee,said: "We would like to give the message to youngpeople that the holy prophet came to spread themessage of Islam and the religion teaches people tolead a peaceful lifestyle. "The sheikh revived thismessage and brought it to this country.

"It will be a beautiful occasion with special guestsand food, and everyone, no matter what race, religionor colour, will be very welcome."

The march will set off from 109 Aldermans Drive, inPeterborough, at 1pm and will culminate at theMadrassa Qassimmyia in Bamber Street.

Press Service of the President of the Republic of UzbekistanFriday, May 19, 2006

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is visitingBukhara region. On the second day of his visit, 19May, the Uzbek leader visited the memorial complex ofBahauddin Nakshband.

In the years of independence, large-scale work hasbeen carried out in the sphere spirituality,enlightenment and education. Serious attention is paidto perpetuation of the memory of great ancestors,preservation and wide propaganda of their heritage.

Scientists are studying the heritage of Hadj BahauddinNakshband, an outstanding thinker, famousrepresentative of Sufism, his invaluable contributionto the world intellectual treasury, as well as theeffective application of this spiritual wealth in deedof upbringing young generation.

Jubilees of Imam Buhari, Hadj Abduhalik Gijduvani, AbuMansur Maturidi, Burhonuddin Marginoniy werecelebrated widely on the initiative of the UzbekPresident. Centre of Memorial Complex of BahauddinNakshband was created in 2004 on the basis of theresolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan.

Viewing the complex, the Uzbek head appreciated theconstructive work carried out in Bukhara for the yearsof independence, and noted the necessity of increasingorchards, looking after parks and flower gardens.

ISLAMABAD: Visitors chant prayers of devotion and hopes for future reunion, as they obsequiously admit their own insignificance in comparison to the piety of renowned saint, Bari Imam, during the final day of his urs (death anniversary).

Around 200,000 devotees return home today, after five days and six nights at the shrine, where a rather sad environment greets visitors. Some devotees cry, as others comfort them. “Who knows if we will get another chance to pay homage to Bari Badshah (king),” said a visitor.

The climax of the annual urs is the mehndi (henna) ceremony. In the sub-continent, the mehndi ceremony is part of marriage celebrations. This practice, however, is common to urs celebrations as well, as the word ‘urs’ means marriage. In Sufi philosophy, the soul of a saint unites with God on the day of his death. Sufism, therefore, takes a saint’s death to be his marriage to God, which is why death anniversaries of saints are called urs, where people dance and beat drums to celebrate the event just like marriages in the sub-continent are celebrated.

Ghulam Jafar, a devotee visiting the shrine, said that his caravan had brought henna to the shrine from Peshawar, from where he had travelled by foot with a party of 800 men. The caravan travelled 15 kilometres a day and stopped at 25 places on the way, he said, adding that more devotees joined their caravan at every stop. “It takes eight days for the caravan to reach the shrine. However, women and children cannot join the caravan. Only men with beards can join us,” he said.

The urs tradition is around 250 years old and was pioneered by Davang Shah, a saint, said Jafar, adding that the tradition was celebrated by decoratively placing a ‘gharroli’ (small pitcher), ‘charaghs’ (earthen lamps), ‘desi ghee’ (cooking oil made of animal fat) and henna at 10pm at the saint’s tomb. The ‘hujra’ (the room where the saint is buried) was then locked and reopened at 3am, he said. When the plate of henna was taken back before dawn, said Jafar, the impression of Bari Imam’s hand could be seen on it.

Hundreds of people, including transvestites, placed their henna plates at the tomb, he said. He claims that a group of saints known as the ‘Pirs of Peshawar’ are the real custodians of the shrine, which included Syed Rozi Aga, Syed Gul Aga, Syed Sheri Aga, Syed Hassan Aga and Syed Muhammad Raza Shah. However, approximately 60 families living in the areas surrounding the shrine, claim to be the saint’s heirs. So far, the only verifiable one is Raja Sarfaraz Akram, who had been recognised by the government as Bari Imam’s true heir. Akram is a young law graduate who runs his own tax consultancy firm in Islamabad. “No pictures please. We are here to serve the masses, not ourselves. I cannot give you a formal interview, because my murshid (spiritual teacher) disliked publicity. But you may share your thoughts with me. I’m no custodian of the shrine, only a servant,” he said while talking to Daily Times, as he personally served food and offered tea to the devotees who had gathered for the langer (free food). He paused in between only to stop admiring visitors from kissing his hands and touching his feet.

Many of Bari Imam’s relations are currently involved in disputes as to the rightful heir and custodian of his shrine. “Bari Imam was born in 1617 and his real name was Syed Abdul Latif Shah. His lineage dates back to the seventh Shia imam. At Nurpur Shahan, Bari Imam prayed for many years. After the sad demise of his wife and daughter, he became reclusive and spent most of his time praying. He preached throughout his life to non-believers,” said a research paper by Dr Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry, the head of the Anthropology Department at Quaid-e-Azam University.

Urs celebrations are part of a tradition that has lasted for centuries. The 1893 District Gazetteer of Rawalpindi refers to the urs - “The principal religious gathering in the district takes place at Nurpur, a small village at the foot of the Margalla hills, where the shrine of a Musalman saint, Bari Imam Latif Shah, is located. It is visited by large crowds at the time of the fair or mela. Latif Shah got the name of Bari from his constant wanderings in the forest. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, is said to have visited Nurpur in the saint’s lifetime, when some of the buildings were erected.”

One of the major attractions for devotees at the shrine are manats (solemn pledges), which they make at the tomb of the saint. Manats are promises made by visitors that require fulfilment, such as arranging for food at the shrine, in return for the saint’s help to solve the devotee’s personal problems, that range from employment or academics to bearing children. A woman at the shrine claimed that though she had been infertile, the saint had helped her bear children, after which she vowed to visit the shrine once a month for the rest of her life. Fourteen-year-old Rani, a devotee from Haripur, said she had attended Bari Imam’s urs 14 times with her family. “As my birth was the result of a manat that my parents had made, my family brings me to shrine every year. I have developed a passion for the urs. I was able to pass my class 8 examination because of a manat,” she said.

Din Muhammad from Sindh said that though he had been visiting the shrine for three years, his manats had not been fulfilled. “There is a time for everything. However, if the government would only ensure better living standards for the people, they might stop making mantas,” he said.

A new coffee table book revisits the 700 years olddargah at Nizamuddin.

At a glance, she looks ill-equipped to talk about thelegendary dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya in south Delhi.Laxmi Dhaul is a saraswat Brahmin by lineage and aMaharashtrian by birth. But the 50-year-old mother ofthree has penned some 120 pages on the dargah in herbook The Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya (Rupa, Rs 595),which was released at Urs Mahal, Nizamuddin, lastevening.

"I made a lot of effort to have the book released onthis day," says Dhaul about the fact that the launchcoincided with the 702nd Urs celebration at thedargah.

The coffee table book is not her first attempt atdiscovering the mystic powers that the dargahs exude.Dhaul, who has always been attracted to the historyand culture of Delhi, was first exposed to sufism atthe Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's dargah in Ajmer when shehad her children admitted to the Mayo College. Soonshe compiled a A4-sized book, The Sufi Saint of Ajmer,which was published and then reprinted in 2003 byRupa.

''The sanctity of the place gets lost in swotting awaythe flies and shooing away the beggars at most ofthese places. People all around you are telling youwhere to deposit the donations or where to buy thechadar from. And the next moment you are happily outof the dust and crowd,'' says Dhaul, who alsoco-partners husband Harry Dhaul's NGO, IndependentPower Production Association of India.

For Dhaul, her ''inexposure'' to dargahs has worked toher advantage. ''I have a layman's view on the dargahand even little details about the peer's life are newfor me,'' she reveals.

While Dhaul's second book is out with support fromDelhi Tourism Department, she is now busy working onher next venture, the ''Eklingji Shrine in Udaipur''.This, besides plans to pen a comprehensive book on thedargahs of Delhi.

By Rachael Kohn - ABC Radio National - AustraliaTranscript from a recording of the program "The Spirit of Things"Sunday 6pm, May 7 (repeated Monday 9pm and Friday 4am) 2006

She made it big in the movies in the 1950s and 60s, married 'James Bond', Sean Connery, but later turned her back on stardom to embark on a life of spiritual discovery. From Gurdjieff to Sufism, Diane's awakening has been profound.

Rachael Kohn: 'No Regrets' sang Edith Piaf, and for my guest today, it's probably a suitable anthem. Hello, I'm, Rachael Kohn. Welcome to The Spirit of Things on ABC Radio National. This is the second in our Epiphanies series, personal tales of courage, adventure and fulfillment.

My guest today is Diane Cilento, one of those rare people who's followed her heart, in love, in her profession, and in her spiritual life. If anyone's been on a journey, Diane has, leading her ever forward into new territory, even to Mecca, as a Sufi pilgrim.She's an acclaimed actress in film and on stage, a writer and film maker, a spiritual seeker, and an owner and director of a theatre, and much more besides. She's had a couple of famous husbands: Sean Connery, the first James Bond, and Tony Shaffer, one of England's great playwrights. In all that, Diane's never lost her feisty personality which she had way back in boarding school in Queensland. All of which she's written about in her new autobiography, My Nine Lives.

I met her when she was down from Queensland to give a series of talks on Sufi Poetry and Sainthood for the Temenos Foundation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

Diane Cilento, welcome to The Spirit of Things.

Diane Cilento: Thank you.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you grew up in Brisbane, the daughter of two famous doctors, Lady Phyllis and Sir Raphael Cilento, and I think your father became the head of the World Health Organisation; were you expected to achieve great things?

Diane Cilento: Nooo! I'm in fact the only one except for a sister who didn't become a doctor. I have three brothers and a sister who was also married to a doctor, and in a way, it was expected that you would go into medicine and be part of the medical group that was our family. My mother and father, and all the rest of them.

Rachael Kohn: Goodness. So joining the theatre must have been a very rebellious thing to do.

Diane Cilento: Well I think they thought I was a bit stupid, actually. I mean, I didn't go to university, I think I'm the only member of my family that didn't. I did go to RADA and I did go to the American Academy of Dramatic Art, but that, I mean actually have you noticed that professional people don't take - I mean especially doctors - don't take other professions like acting seriously. They think it's sort of a bit of a joke.

Rachael Kohn: Do you think your family didn't take your profession seriously?

Diane Cilento: Well they didn't take it seriously until I started earning more money than they were! That's when they started taking me seriously. But I think even then it was a bit - no, I think that they began to think it was OK after that, now.

Rachael Kohn: Well you went on to have quite a significant career as an actress, playing some of the most memorable parts like Molly Seagram, the saucy wench in Tom Jones, that great film of the '60s. And not long after that your then husband, Sean Connery, I guess he was your second husband, became a superstar as James Bond. And that was in the mid-'60s. That must have been a terrific time for you, but also very challenging. What were the personal challenges of that kind of fame so early?

Diane Cilento: Well. I was more famous than him when we married, and then he got to be very, very famous, and we lived in a funny little house in the middle of Acton Common. And of course we had absolutely no protection, and nobody really knew about security and guards and people then, we never thought about it.

We had 17 robberies, and oh dear, it was very challenging, believe me, because see I think England at that time, I mean America had had Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, but England suddenly got Bond and the Beatles, and they'd never really had any internationally ding-dong drag out celebrity type lifestyles. And it was a very, very swift learning process. And none of us knew that obviously it would cost so much money. And as Sean's Scottish, he didn't want to spend anything on guards coming around, and I didn't know anything about all that stuff. We were a bit Babes in the Wood about it.

Of course, after a while you get to not be, especially with the paparazzi who invade your space continuously.

Rachael Kohn: Did that spark some questions in you about what it is to be Diane Cilento?

Diane Cilento: Well it certainly sparked questions about the idea of being famous. Because when you're a working actor, what you're really entranced by is the skill of acting. And then suddenly, when you get into films, and I had a contract with Alexander Korda long ago before this, and he then died when I was in America, so I had been sort of passed on to the government; I was a civil servant.

British Lion was owned by the British government, so I was shoved into all these films, and suddenly the gilt goes off the gingerbread in the acting stakes, and you think, Oh God, not another one of these ghastly films. And you get put into - at least I did - at that time I didn't fit the mould, you see, never, of that sort of British type star, of Deborah Kerr 'arrive as a star', get your hair sort of done into these awful little globules and follow a formula which I wasn't good - I couldn't do it.

Rachael Kohn: Well I think you actually described yourself as a young woman, being impetuous and passionate and what else? Dramatic. Though I suppose that's predicable for an actress. Did that work for you, or against you, in what became a budding spiritual quest?

Diane Cilento: Well, first of all Sean didn't want me to work, because he had a very different idea of what wives do. They sit at home and they do other things than acting. So I thought that I'd be sitting at home and writing books. So I started writing and I did write two books actually. I wrote one called Hybrid, but the first one was called The Manipulator, and it was really because I'd been to the Mexican Film Festival with Tony Richardson. See, I was in the Royal Court and all that, too. And I'd seen the sort of manipulation that goes on in the film industry, and I suppose I began finally to actually begin to look at things in a more questing way.

Rachael Kohn: Well you got involved in the esoteric movement called the School of Philosophy that was begin by J.G. Bennett, and I think he was based in London, was he?

Diane Cilento: No, he was based in Gloucestershire. At first he was in London and in fact I knew him in London and used to go to meditational things at his place, which was in the next street from me in Kingston. But he started a great big school in Gloucestershire, which was in the same school that If - you know that film called If, where the boys from school revolted against their schoolmaster and threw him in Sherwater - it was called Sherborne - and the school was left empty, and then it was taken over by Bennett and called the School of Continuous Education, and that's where I lived for a year.

Rachael Kohn: Is that where your interest in Sufism first began?

Diane Cilento: Yes, it did, because Sufism really was the parent of I suppose you could say, Sufism was the parent of Gurdjieff, and the source from which he took a lot of his work, and although Bennett wasn't a complete Gurdjieffian, he did also go back, and I find myself going back to the source of where the knowledge came from.

And I found that it came from very much from a philosopher that lived in the 12th century called Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, and I met the man who did translations, he was a Turkish gentleman, called Bulent Rauf, and then I was taken to the Whirling Dervishes to stay with them and do this film, and then I was taken to Turkey to help with the translations of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi's work. So suddenly, I was taken into a different world, where the work went back to a very long time before.

Rachael Kohn: How did you find yourself making a film about the Whirling Dervishes? That couldn't have been easy in the first place to organise.

Diane Cilento: I know that this will sound very bizarre. First of all I had a dream that I saw this whirling white figure, and I wrote to Bulent, and I said, Look, I keep seeing this strange - and I thought he'd say, 'Go away and take a pill, or have a shower, or do something.' But he said, 'No, no, we'll go to the Turkish Embassy together, because I happen to know the Mevlevi, he was an archaeologist'.

Rachael Kohn: Who was that?

Diane Cilento: Rauf his name was. And he was also a great chef. We went to the Turkish Embassy and we did - I had just done a film for the BBC with the director, and that director was supposed to come with us and sign up, because at that time, they'd just done Midnight Express and no-one was allowed to go into Turkey to film, because they were terrified you were going to put a camera in a paper bag and get into their prisons and do some nasty stuff.

Anyway, this silly BBC director didn't come, so suddenly we all were there, and they wouldn't let him come because he hadn't signed on in the Embassy. So there was me who had to direct it. I would never have done it if I hadn't actually been to that school, because by that time, practically speaking, I'd tackle anything.

Rachael Kohn: I was going to say, Diane, you never recoil from a challenge, do you?

Diane Cilento: Well I couldn't. We were all there, nine people and a group of wonderful technicians and we were off down to stay with the Mevlevi and they were all ready to go, and the old Sheikh, Suleiman Dede, and Ahmed Becan and all these people were lined up. And I was sort of suddenly the director. What did happen though was it took me a long time to edit it. And that was very exciting. I loved that. But I mean, I promise you, the editing was together-together, and to do it right, I had to write the whole thing, then I had to get myself and Bulent to do the words. It won a few prizes and it is a lovely film, I think. And I suppose probably it's the only film which explains the ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes, the sema, in fact what's really happening.

I've often see a lot of films of people turning round and round, and it's very fascinating, but you don't know why they're doing it. That's what my film's about, why they're doing, what they're doing.

Rachael Kohn: Tell me about that, and why it affects you, why it's important to you.

Diane Cilento: Well it's important to anybody who's watching it because in fact they are taking part in it. It's called the sema and it's actually a meditational practice that, it's sort of like the transmission of blessings through - they raise their right hand and it comes through that place, then it goes through their heart and out their left hand, and it's actually a wonderful symbolic passing of the energies from one world to another, and I think really that's what happens.

It has the most extraordinary effect upon those people watching it, they are taken into it, it's wonderfully - it's with the music, and the music of the flute, and the music of the blind man, who sings the incantation, and the thing called the walk where they acknowledge the godhead of each one. It's a very, very complicated but beautiful ceremony from beginning to end.

I had one of the guys turn. I found a nightclub which had a square as a dance floor, and I put him in the middle of it as the circle within the square, and I put the camera right above his head and shot down on him. But he couldn't do it unless the whole of the incantation, this flute, and the whole thing was done, then he could do it. Without that, he couldn't actually turn properly. Odd that, wasn't it?

Rachael Kohn: Well there are no women dervishes are there?

Diane Cilento: Oh yes. Of course. But they don't turn like that, but there are really a lot of women dervishes, yes, and they've got a lot of Vroom. They're very powerful women, promise you.

At one time there was a woman dervish there who was extraordinary, her name was Madame Ayashler and she had a big turban on a big stick, and I was shooting in the tomb of Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi and someone because we were supposed to be sort of non-Muslims, pulled out all the plugs and the light. And so suddenly the lights went tchiu! like that, and she knew, she'd been watching, and she went over and she tongue-lashed them with a big stick and they were all terrified. Up went the lights again in a flash!

Rachael Kohn: Diane, one of the great names associated with Konya in Turkey, is the Sufi poet Jalâluddîn Rumi who fled there with his family when he was a boy. And you've actually lectured on his poetry for the Temenos Institute. Would you read a bit of his poetry for us?

Diane Cilento: Well one of the names that Jalâluddîn Rumi had was the Master, Mevlana. And he was incredibly enamoured of poetry, calligraphy and especially that music of the ney, which is that reed flute that you hear that's so haunting. And his students were encouraged to go down to the river and pick their own reed and fashion it for themselves, for their own mouth and their own hands. And he wrote this poem about that.

Listen to the reed forlornCrying since it was torn from its rushy beda song of love and pain.

The secret of my song, though near, none can see and none can hear.Oh, for a friend to know the signAnd mingle all his tears with mine.

'Tis the flame of love that fired me,'Tis the wine of love inspired me.Would you learn how lovers bleed?Then listen, listen to the reed.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, Sufi poets are known for mixing up passion and love and divinity in this beautiful way. Is that what is so powerful for you, that mixture?

Diane Cilento: Oh yes. I mean the love affair's very powerful, but also the humour and the individuation, that the extraordinary advanced tastiness of most Sufi poets. Each one is different, and each one has their own sort of as though you know them, because they're so funny, some of them are very funny.

Rachael Kohn: Well you read that poem from memory. Do you read them as a kind of spiritual practice?

Diane Cilento: I don't know. I just do like them. I don't think you can segregate spiritual practices from anything, that's just it, it's just your life, and once you come across these poems, I mean I like lots of other poems, too. For my picture I used T.S. Eliot and different people, although strangely enough, T.S. Eliot was a pupil of J.G. Bennett's, did you know that?

Rachael Kohn: No.

Diane Cilento: Well, he was.

Rachael Kohn: Amazing.

Diane Cilento: And they were both Catholics. [T.S.Eliot was an Anglo-Catholic.] But you can be in the Sufi way and be any - although it is based in Islam. But I mean, it doesn't really matter what basically the religion is, it's all the same thing. It's all oneness. And I don't think you can divorce or segregate or pigeonhole life in that way much. It is just life, and poetry's part of that.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you were married to the celebrated English playwright and screen writer, Tony Shaffer for many years. Did he share your spiritual interests?

Diane Cilento: Yes, he did, but he was more fascinated by the personalities. He loved Bulent Rauf for instance, he thought he was wonderful. He loved J.G. Bennett as well. Bulent had been married to King Farouk's sister. He was an extraordinary man, and he loved smoked salmon and that very black chocolate when it's dipped in grapefruit peel. And things like that. He was a wonderful sensualist. And Tony loved all that sort of thing too.

He did quite a lot of work with everyone, and he came when we did the translating bits, and when we went - there is a place in Scotland that is run, it's called Beshara, which is 'In this way', it's a school. And he came there and did a retreat and he was nearly always though more fascinated by the theatricality of it than the personalities, than in fact the idea of meditational practice. I don't think he had the gift of meditation. He used to think, not meditate.

Rachael Kohn: Did you ever want to convey or transmit your spiritual interests to your children?

Diane Cilento: I know that that's not possible. You can talk about it. One of my children lives in a Sufi group but the other, my son, doesn't. And I would never think of trying to proselytise anything to my children. That son actually lived at Sherborne, when I was at that school. And I think, I mean Mr Bennett used to say about children that they learn through their skin, so I don't think I would ever try and lead my children anywhere, they'll go where they'll go.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you went on a pilgrimage recently to Mecca. Why did you want to do it?

Diane Cilento: I was invited, and I wasn't actually going to go at first, and then I knew I had to. And I really was very pleased that I did. It was quite an experience.

Rachael Kohn: Who went with you?

Diane Cilento: I went with my daughter, and the group of people that she lives with, who are an extraordinary group of people who live in Sydney, and theirs is a, I suppose you'd call it a tekya, a school of Sufism. But they're Islamic, they've got a Sheikh who is Egyptian, very nice and extraordinary man, who was strangely enough in the United Nations as well. And he invited all of us, and of course you can't go as a single woman, unless you've got a male person to look after you. My son-in-law did that, but I didn't take any notice of it much, I just went around anyway. I mean I'm certainly not nubile still, so it didn't really matter.

Rachael Kohn: What were you wearing?

Diane Cilento: I was wearing my hijab, which took me a while to get used to, especially as the temperature was 45, and I did lose a few pairs of sandals, because they were made of leather, I mean anything like that, leave outside it's all gone afterwards. So I learnt not to do that.

Rachael Kohn: How long was it?

Diane Cilento: I was there for three weeks. It was very extraordinarily momentous. You forget, it's like a dream. You forget about time, you don't know what day it is, or what time it is, because they do the circumambulation in the middle of the night, because it's too hot to do it.

Rachael Kohn: So that's the Kaaba, the great black stone.

Diane Cilento: The Kaaba is covered with beautifully embossed damask, it smells, if you put your nose against it it smells of attar of roses. People are trying to kiss this black stone. I didn't go near there, it was a bit like a sort of football scrum, but I did the whole circumambulation and went to see the feet of Abraham and I thought it was an extraordinary experience. It takes quite a while, and I did it more than once, I did it quite often.

Rachael Kohn: You've lectured on the Sufi saint, Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz, who was also a poet. He was sort of quirky, and even ostracised by the Muslim clergy. Can you read from one of his poems?

Diane Cilento: Certainly.

Spill the oil lamp, set the boring place on fire!

If you've ever made wanton love with God,

Then you have ignited that brilliant light inside,

That every person needs.

So spill the oil! Set the boring place on fire!

Rachael Kohn: You know, when I read that, it made me think of perhaps how you might have felt as a school student in the boarding school, when you fled. Does that poem have a certain resonance or connection to your anarchic spirit?

Diane Cilento: Oh God yes. Anybody has got my tick if they have a bit of that sort of anarchy in them. I like - I think those sort of things are born in you, and I always have to have something that spills over, let's say. It's not that I try and create chaos or anything, it's just that life has to be sort of on the bubble, I think.

Rachael Kohn: Well there's something about love being at the centre of Sufism, which always contains an element of yearning for me.

Diane Cilento: Well of course. That's what it's all about. What people really want is to be embraced, it doesn't matter whether they want to go and - whatever they want to do, even if they're out to make a million bucks in a card game, it's still about being embraced. It's being approved of and loved. And that's what it is, it's the whole of life is this incredible love affair, which the last poem in that, that Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi poem, which is written as God speaking to those who will come after, or are here now, or have been, to say Why don't you see me? Why can't you hear me? I've only created you with perceptions so that I can be the object of your perception.

That's what I feel Sufism has. Instead of all that sort of knocking that goes on and dogma, it sort of says, Oh, don't worry about all that stuff, it's just a love affair. And that's what I think is, you know, that's it.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, it's been a joy talking to you, thank you so much for being on The Spirit of Things.

Diane Cilento: Thank you, it's been very lovely to talk to you too, Rachael.

Rachael Kohn: Diane Cilento has written about her life in a new book, just out, called My Nine Lives.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

"There is always a controversy about who has the right to define Islam but it is all about accepting differences"- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasim Frembgen

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasim Frembgen recently launched his book and exhibition titled The Friends of God - Sufi Saints in Islam: Popular Poster Art from Pakistan at the Goethe Institut in Karachi. He is chief curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as lecturer of anthropology and Islamic Studies at various universities in Germany. Dr. Frembgen has been working in Pakistan since 1981 and has conducted numerous researches and published books and papers regarding Islamic, particularly Sufi, belief in Pakistan. His latest book, published by the Oxford University Press, is a collection of posters of Sufi Saints from all across Pakistan.

What are your areas of interest?Since the late 1970s, my areas of interest have generally been in Islam. However, since Islam has many facets and dimensions, my interest specifically has been the Sufi tradition and the veneration of Muslim saints. In addition, my work as the curator of the Museum of Ethnology in Munich, Germany, means that, because of the 'material culture' of the museum, I am also interested in Muslim art as well as the expression of art among the people - folk art, popular art - and the Sufi posters are in a way popular art in Pakistan.

What were your reasons for being attracted to Pakistan?The seeds were sown in childhood. I had a very illustrious aunt, who was also my godmother. She embraced Islam and she married a Pukhtun Popalzai from Afghanistan and travelled across the world. Since childhood, my eyes were set towards Afghanistan and South Asia. Initially, I wanted to do fieldwork in Afghanistan but due to the Soviet invasion this was not possible. So, I shifted my focus, initially, to the mountains of Hindukush, Karakoram and the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Since 1981, I have been coming to Pakistan every year and, in the process, I have become 'Pakistanised.' Step by step I was socialised into Pakistani life. I embraced Islam in 1988 and changed my second name.Pakistan, in addition, is extraordinary and unique. It is a meeting place of cultures and it offers everything a researcher could want. I was also attracted to Pakistan because it is in many ways still unknown, as compared to other parts of the world such as India and Iran. It provides a lot of chances for new discoveries.

Being a foreigner and coming here to work, what sort of barriers did you face initially?It was really similar to learning like a child. You have to learn how to behave and adjust your personal habits, you have to adjust to the food and learn the language - at least to a certain extent. But adjusting to the society is always a challenge for an anthropologist doing fieldwork in a strange country.

What else have you researched on in Pakistan?I originally started with anthropological fieldwork in Nager, which is opposite Hunza in the Karakorams. I did a general ethnography there and worked on political history.

The second fieldwork was in Hurbund valley in Indus-Kohistan. Hurbund was a very dangerous area to do fieldwork in because there is still blood revenge going on and there is no central authority. They have their jirga system and fortified villages, with watchtowers. I was working on Islam and the social system. The Tablighi Jamaat is very active there, not the Sufi tradition.

Then I kept coming to Punjab and to Sindh-to Sehwan Sharif-to attend melas and urs to see how the common people venerate the saints in the low-land provinces of Pakistan. The Sufi shrine is a sort of aesthetic space. It's such an interesting visual culture and it's appealing to the senses in that you can get some taste of paradise eating the sweets and eating at the lungar. There is also the auditory aspect. You are listening to Sufi music, to qawwali and kafian. In that way, all the senses of the human body are offered a lot and the whole experience gives sukoon to people. I wanted to see what the experience of the Pakistani people was as well as experience it myself. That was my initial interest. To live with the malangs - and not in the guest-houses and air-conditioned rooms of the Sajjada Nashin -to travel in a qafila, from Shah Jamal in Lahore, for example.

What problems have you faced during the research and in the time you have spent here?There were hardships in the beginning during my early days in the Northern Areas, where I was starving due to the purdah system in Nager. I was not allowed to stay within the family, so I had made arrangements with a policeman to cook a bit of potatoes for me, but I went down to 48 kilograms during that time.

On the other hand, in Hurbund people showed me a lot of hospitality. They cared for me in a fantastic way and I can only praise the hospitality of people here. There were only a few ugly incidents. I remember coming back immediately after 9/11 and in 2002 there was a street urchin in Lahore who was throwing all sorts of dirty things at me. That was the single ugly incident, but that was my own fault because I was too visible as a foreigner taking a picture on that occasion.

You have probably travelled more of Pakistan than most people in this country. What are your perceptions and opinions about people and places?I know about the problems and I see them-over-population, pollution, crime-but despite that there is so much warmth and emotional interest in other people; in communicating with other people. There is a different quality of friendship among Pakistanis and between me and my Pakistani friends.

If there was one thing I would single out from every part of Pakistan, it would be the character of Pakistani people which I really miss in Germany. The Balochis, Pukhtun, Sindhis and Punjabis all have their own characteristics. The Punjabis have a great sense of humour and their love of food.

If you had to name one of all the Sufi shrines you have visited in Pakistan, which is your favourite and why?I don't want to name just one shrine. From the point of architecture, the shrine of Mian Mir in Lahore has a fantastic serenity and tranquillity around it and my mentor- she was not my teacher but my mentor- Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, the famous German scholar, that was also her favourite shrine. But because I love the practiced forms of Islam and the vivid life of devotion, my favorite shrine is that of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif. Although from an artistic point of view it does not offer much nowadays, it has this immense energy of life around the shrine during the urs.

How do Pakistani Sufi practices differ, in your opinion, from Sufi practices in Iran, Egypt or Turkey?I think Sufism and Islamic mysticism is extremely vivid and colourful in Pakistan. The aspect of devotion is more emphasised here. The amount of emotional appeal is more intense than Afghanistan, Iran or Turkey. There it can be more intellectual, more sober and less colourful.

There is also the power of music. We should not forget that the most well-known and most well-respected exponents of Sufi music come from Pakistan-Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan and of course, Abida Perveen, the biggest and the best Sufi voice. This aspect of music and rendering the verses of the Sufi poets is a message that Pakistan can convey to the outside world. This sort of peaceful, soft approach to religion is really very much embedded here, even if it is contested.

There are those who frown upon the Sufi way of following Islam. As someone who came in as an objective observer and has embraced the faith and society, what is your opinion on this issue?I know people frown upon the Sufi tradition and there are things which they don't consider Islamic. They say it is, so to speak, not 'true' Islam. But there is always the question of who has the authority to say what is Islam and what isn't. I think one should listen to the people themselves. The common people in the countryside, even among nomads, the Islam they are practicing, they are of the opinion that this is the right Islam. There are different dimensions. There is the official, normative, scriptural forms of Islam but there are also the more vernacular and popular forms of Islam as practiced at the shrines and in the villages and there is also the Sufi tradition.

Nowadays, there are very well-educated Sufis in western suits, carrying briefcases, going to London. They are members of Sufi tareeqas and silsilas. So I think the Sufi tradition is perfectly adjusted to the modern way of life. Now, we have a transnational Sufi network. In fact, this esoteric view of Islam is really at the core of Islam and the Sufis are much more into prayers and religious observances than 'normal' Muslims.

You mentioned that there are parallels in other religions in South Asia of the sort of popular art studied in your book. Why do you think this art form is so popular despite certain conservative views of Islam in Pakistan that despise figural representations?Again the orthodox and official voices of Islam have always been critical of images. There is the so-called prohibition or ban on images in normative, official Islam. They are even sometimes considered haram. In effect, the hadith addressing this issue was concerned with the mosque and other religious places where it was not allowed to exhibit any paintings or depictions of human beings.

In the history of Muslim art you have figural representations all over, on carpets, in the courtly arts of the Mughals, Safawids and Ottomans, you have all these depictions of human beings in popular expressions of faith. Be it Islam or any other religion, there was always a demand on the popular level to make the saint more apparent, to bring him closer to the simpler minds of the people.

It was always controversial and there were also periods in Muslim history where there was more tolerance towards images. Then the Taliban were destroying the Buddha images in Bamiyan and there was a hue and cry raised against that.

There is always a controversy about who has the right to define Islam but it is all about accepting differences. I am just exhibiting the posters and researching them because they are part of a certain aspect of popular Islam. Not all the Muslims in Pakistan share these beliefs and, of course, it is more in the disprivileged social classes in Pakistan, the common people in the streets, they purchase and use these posters as a tabarruk to express their personal religious identity.

As a professor and teacher, what advice would you give students planning on doing similar research?If I'm addressing a class of German students, I would advise them to try and convey sympathy and empathy. I think this is the order of the day: Muslims and people in western countries all have to realise that in this global age we all have to live with differences.

People like Baba Bullay Shah have given us examples and models in the way that people from different religions should sit together on equal terms. They should not develop hate and animosity and they can all benefit from meeting each other and exchanging views in a liberal way. That, in short, is my philosophy.

Friday, October 27, 2006

THE 90-year old 'Baul' Shah Abdul Karim has written and composed about 1500 songs. Six books of his songs -- Aftab Sangeet, Gano Sangeet, Kalnir Dheu, Dholmela, Bhatir Chithi and Kalnir Kooley -- have been published. Bangla Academy has translated 10 of his songs in English and he has been honoured with the prestigious national award -- Ekushey Padok in 2001.

Shah Abdul Karim's songs such as Maya lagaisey, Ami koolhara kolonkini and Gari choley na have attained popularity among music fans of this generation. Quite a few contemporary artistes and musicians have shot to fame rendering Abdul Karim's songs -- often re-arranged or remixed. His songs, following the trend of Sufism, stand out for their extraordinary metaphors, message of secularism and depiction of divine love in simple words; a reason why his music has a mass appeal.

As a tribute to the living legend, Sound Machine has released an album titled Jibonto Kingbodonti: Baul Shah Abdul Karim. The mixed album features renditions of Abdul Karim's familiar songs by celebrated as well as emerging artistes -- Bangla, Momotaz, Dalchhut, Maqsud, Dilruba Khan, Shandipon, Ajob, Oojaan, The London Underground and others.

The opening song Agey ki shundor din kataitham, re-arranged and performed by Oojaan gives the album a lukewarm start. This well-known song, addressing the once thriving harmony among Muslims and Hindus in the rural areas, is not slow paced but Oojan's rendition lacks the exuberance manifested in Abdul Karim's songs.

The next song, Ami tomar kaul-er gari however, sweeps one away. The song, re-arranged by Bappa Mazumdar and rendered by Momotaz, follows the genre of Dehotatwa, a sect of Murshidee. Much has been said about Momotaz and her "questionable" songs that have fetched her mass popularity but her performance in this song should be enough to demonstrate that given opportunities, she can work wonders. Her not so stereotypically melodious, yet powerful voice questions the divine will in the song.

Pradeep Kumar and The London Underground deliver a very appealing and hum-able version of Kano piritee barailarey bondhu. Pradeep's skillful vocals epitomise the eternal yearning for the beloved. The fusion number aptly uses several sounds effects and alaap.

Bangla performs Shokhi kunjo shajao. Anusheh's inimitable style and flawless rendition is nothing new to the listeners; only one predicament -- the number sounds more like the songs Bangla usually performs and less like a Shah Abdul Karim song.

Manush hoye talaash korley, re-arranged and rendered by Ajob highlights spirituality. Ajob uses the serene style of Lalon songs, which makes the song interesting and easy to the ear.

Dilruba Khan renders Ailaye na. The tune of the song sounds somewhat similar to another number in the album -- Bashonto batashey, rendered by Shandipon. Dilruba's breathy vocals and emotive expressions make her version memorable.

The album has 12 tracks in total and can be a treat for music aficionados of all cults. Different artistes, groups and musicians add their unique touch to the collection. Kudos to Sound Machine for putting together a quality production. Proceeds from the sales of the album will go to Shah Abdul Karim, who is suffering from age-related ailments.

by Sergei Markedonov - special to Russia ProfileWednesday, May 17, 2006

Caucasus Conflicts More Than a Clash of Civilizations

The North Caucasus is often automatically associated in people’s minds with Islamic extremism and 2005 was, indeed, a year of renewed violence as a form of political activity in the region. The tragic events of the October attack on Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, signalled for many that the Russian state’s main terrorist opponents are no longer secular ethno-nationalists, fighting for an independent Chechnya, but rather Caucasian Islamic terrorists, fighting the international war on terror.

In this sense, the Russian North Caucasus is following a road already taken by countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In these areas, the main proponents of terrorism from the 1960s to the 1980s were secular ethno-nationalists, like Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who made use of religious values and slogans as just one tool in their struggle. Beginning in the early 1980s, however, proponents of “true Islam,” like the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad, began playing an increasingly dominant role. The North Caucasus is now experiencing a similar evolution, as the second half of the 1990s saw ethno-nationalism begin to give way to the slogans of “pure Islam.”

Throughout the region’s history, non-religious considerations have had - and continue to have - a significant influence on the formation of values, norms, institutions and ways of thinking in the region. To begin with, self-identification in the Caucasus is based on the principle of blood - identity as connected to family and kinship groups such as clans. This is both a sub-ethnic and supra-ethnic identity. Clans are often divided along geographical lines, with groups that live in the mountains claiming allegiance to each other at the expense of groups who live in the valleys or on the plains. This type of division may also apply to the differences between rural and urban dwellers or nomads and farmers. Additionally, clans may identify with other, larger political or cultural structures that break down along regional lines or particular political beliefs. Clans may determine how open a group of people would be to a modernization project or how tied they are to traditional culture. Family loyalty is stronger than any adherence to aКlarger ethnic or regional grouping, including the nation state.

These divisions all have their roots in history and are not primarily based on religious differences. There have been numerous examples in the history of the Caucasus when ethnic identity or loyalties to different states have caused confrontation between two peoples sharing the same religion. Likewise, there have been cases when religious identity has divided members of the same ethnic group or, on the contrary, united peoples speaking different languages.

Moreover, the idea of a unified and monolithic civilization (Christian or Islamic) based on a common religion is, in many respects, a myth in the context of the Caucasus. Islam in the Caucasus has many faces. There are, for example, the Sufi brotherhoods in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Sufism, which is derived from the Arab word “Suf,” for the wool of the rough garments worn by hermits - is a mystical current in Islam that preaches humility and withdrawal from the vain pursuits of the world. The Sufi brotherhoods in the Caucasus are known as tarikat - from the Arab word Tarik, meaning road or path, as in the road to truth. The teacher, or “murshid,” plays a crucial role in Caucasian Sufism. The most influential Tarikats in the Caucasus are Nakhsbandia and Kadiria. Former Chechen separatist president Dzhokhar Dudayev belonged to Kadiria, as did former pro-Moscow Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov. Doku Zavgayev, another pro-Russian Chechen leader, belonged, instead, to Nakhsbandia.

More dogmatic Islamic theology is also represented in the Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygeya and Karachayevo-Cherkessia, in the form of salifia, or Wahhabism. The Wahhabis oppose the adaptation of Islam to local traditions and denounce the cult of the teacher. One of the greatest political changes in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union is the divide that has split Muslims into followers of traditional local Islam and supporters of the Wahhabi doctrines. Both sides have proven capable of extremist views.

The periodic flare-ups in the latent interethnic conflicts in the Caucasus have involved participants of many different ethnic groups, all sharing the Islamic faith. The Kabardis and Balkars in conflict in Kabardino-Balkaria are both Muslim peoples, as are the rival Karachais and Cherkesses, the Avars and the Chechen-Akkins, the Laks and the Kumyks. Splits between the followers of different sects in Islam have developed into sometimes ruthless and violent conflicts, with the most serious in Dagestan and Chechnya.

As for Christian representatives and groupings in the Caucasus, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church’s 98 dioceses in the region are much more prepared to engage in dialogue with representatives of traditional local Islam than with Catholic or Protestant preachers. The most consistent follower of this line is Metropolitan Feofan (Ashurkov) of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz. This speaks of a supra-religious identity shared by the traditional faiths and based on perceptions of the historical roots of a faith in the region. In this sense, “old Islam” and the Orthodox Church stand opposed to Wahhabism and Protestant groups such as the Seventh-Day Adventists, Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as groups like the Hare Krishnas.

Appeals to ethnic, religious or cultural identity have always been a response to situations determined by specific historical circumstances. The peoples of the Caucasus might see themselves as representatives of religious “civilizations” (Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist) and, at the same time, as defenders of ethnic interests, citizens of a particular state, participants in modernization or defenders of traditional values. Concepts of ethnic, religious, state and social identity in the Caucasus have always been in flux.

The Caucasus has always been a region of shifting borders and identities. A listing of the various state and administrative-territorial transformations in the region through history would fill a book. The region has never ceased to be a shifting frontier area - not even during the years of Soviet hegemony. In this respect, the ethno-political and religious processes in the Caucasus cannot be reduced to the clash of civilizations scheme involving a conflict between religions. Historically, the Caucasus has been a contact zone for different ethnic, religious, ethno-religious and ethno-social groups, and the interaction between all of these different groups over various historical periods has created the unique mosaic we see today.

Talk: “Living Up to Ustad Nusrat’s Image is Tough” but Rahat Ali Khan is doing just fine without his illustrious uncle.

Life has not been easy, if not tough, for Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the nephew and prodigy of Pakistani qawwali singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He was only 24 when his uncle died, leaving him to take on the mantle of the 700-year-old musical legacy. Since then, the soft-spoken Faisalabad-based Khan has been trying to keep alive the qawwali tradition. He provided the soundtrack for Shekhar Kapur-directed The Four Feathers and his songs like Mann Ki Lagan in Paap and Jiya Dhadak Dhadak in Kalyug have made him a household name. He spoke to Namita Kohli about sufi music and his new album Charkha, The Circle of Life.

You’ve been carrying on the legacy of your illustrious uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan since his death in 1997. How has the journey been?It has only begun. Initially, it used to feel like a burden. But now things are more comfortable, though the pressure to live up to his image continues.

What projects are you working on currently?My solo album Charkha will be out by June this year. The music will be a blend of Arabian, Latin and Spanish influences, but the beat will be ethnic. I have used Baba Bullehshah’s verses and the sufi shora for the lyrics. I also have a few proposals from Bollywood.

What about international projects?In August, I will be touring Canada and America. I am trying to do something new by adding saxophone and guitar to my music to make it more accessible to people.

Do improvisations interfere with the essence of traditional music? Even Nusrat Khan was criticised for such experiments.Even when we improvise, the base is always pure qawwali. Sufi music is spiritual music and it will end only when the link with the soul is absent. These days, the audience wants something different. In the West, I find that the NRI audience appreciates my music.

Are the audiences in Pakistan and India any different? Where do you enjoy performing more?I enjoy performing in India as people understand my music. Many of the musical stalwarts are Indians and the industry here is alive. Also, I am a fan of musicians like Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

You started performing with your uncle at the age of 10. Any childhood memories?He is always there in my sur. But I feel the vaccum sometimes. My journey to reach him will continue till I meet him.

ISLAMABAD: The centuries-old ceremonies of the Urs of great spiritualist and saint Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] began at Noorpur, close to the capital city of Islamabad on Sunday.

Sweat mingles with tears on sun-darkened faces of pilgrims who walk miles, most of them barefoot and clad in rags, destine towards the shrine Hazrat Bari Sarkar [RA] in the hills, around Islamabad every year.

These are Pakistan’s colourful saint-worshippers, adherents of the Sufi branch of Islam. Almost one Million pilgrims from home and abroad arrive to pay homage at the silver-mirrored mausoleum of 17th century Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi [RA], best known as Hazrat Bari Imam [RA].

People have been coming to the shrine of the great saint for centuries.

The annual pilgrimage to Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] is undertaken over five days surrounding the anniversary of the saint’s death each May. Each night at the shrine, a large number of pilgrims twirled to rapidly beating drums. Others carried miniature golden mausoleums garlanded with yellow and green streamers and triangular flags bearing verses from the Holy Quran.

The devotees come to make or fulfil “mannats” [pledges] that they would regularly visit the shrine, feed the poor or perform another act if their prayers are answered. “My son wanted to go to Kuwait and he just came back. I promised I’d come to the shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] and donate rice to the poor when he came back,” said Budronisa Yacoub from Lahore to 'Pakistan Times' [Daily Web Newspaper] as she arrived at the shrine on Monday. “If I hadn’t come, I would have been anxious. I would have worried because I made a promise to Allah,” she said, wiping away a tear. “I feel relaxed now.”

As is indexed in the history, Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] was one of the great preachers of Central Asian and Arab who for centuries travelled through South Asia spreading Islam.

During the 17th century, thieves and outcasts occupied Noorpur Shahan village at the edge of Islamabad. While travelling though the area, the great saint, who had migrated to the densely thick underwood isolated terrain, now known as Islamabad from his origin, a village in Chakwal area, was stunned by the habits of those living among the natural beauty of the Margalla Hills. He decided to stay and teach the people about Islam. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who was devoted to spreading his empire, originally built the silver-mirrored shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam [RA].

It has been renovated and is now is maintained by the government. Inside the mausoleum, where the great saint rests, only men are permitted, a steady stream of worshippers enter and exit, most bending to kiss and strew rose petals on the green cloth covering the grave of Hazrat Bari Sarkar [RA]. Reciting verses from the Holy Quran, women view the grave through a glass window, which many touch and kiss while praying for the blessings of Almighty Allah.

The faithful read from one of the hundreds of the copies of the Holy Quran, the moment when one leaves after recitation. Some simply sit in silence as mark of respect for the great saint, taking a moment to say a final prayer and to collect the inspiration and strength to make the journey back home.

Thousands of people thronged the shrine of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif, better known as Bari Imam, on the first day of annual Urs at Noorpur Shahan Village here on Sunday.

The three-day Urs began with the beat of drum and Dhamals (dances) to pay tribute to the most famous and revered saint of Potohar region.A ceremony of Chadarposhi was held in the shrine. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion. He was accompanied by caretaker of the shrine Raja Sarfaraz.Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro will be the chief guest at the concluding ceremony on 18th.

Some 500 ‘Dalian’ (rallies), each comprising about 50 people, reached the shrine from various parts of the country. Most of the devotees travelled on foot in memory of the saint who was famous for travelling long distances on foot.The devotees, carrying the replica of the shrine, sang devotional songs and danced to the beats of the drums.Some of the devotees were seen collecting ‘Langar’ (food) distributed at the shrine, while others were offering prayers.

According to a rough estimate, some 200,000 people, including women, children and aged persons, visited the shrine on the first day of Urs.

The Urs of Hazrat Bari Imam has become one of the major events of the capital as thousands of devotees from all over the country take part in it every year. A number of free medical camps have been set up on the premises of the shrine to provide first aid, if required. The Capital Development Authority has provided a tanker to provide drinking water to the devotees. Hundreds of tents and sheds have been installed in the open field around the shrine for providing accommodation to the devotees, who will stay for six days.

The capital administration has also made special arrangements. Close circuit cameras, scanners and walk-through gates had been installed at the entrance and other points of the shrine to keep a vigil on terrorists.

The five-day annual urs (death anniversary)of Shah Latif Bari Qadri (Bari Imam) will begin today(Sunday) in Islamabad, where the National Assemblyspeaker will attend as chief guest.

Annually, thousands of people from all over thecountry participate in the urs to pay homage to thegreat Sufi saint who lies buried at the historicalmirror-studded shrine in Nurpur Shahan, a village atthe foot of the Margalla Hills. This year, theIslamabad District Administration (IDA) and theDistrict Auqaf Directorate has made strict securityarrangements for the event.

Bari Imam, whose real name is Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi,was born in 1617 AD (1026 Hijra). His father, SyedMehmood Shah, shifted his family from Jhelum districtto Baghan village (Aabpara), which was barren at thetime. Mehmood Shah began farming in the area, where healso raised some domestic animals.

In his early years, Shah Latif helped his father in the smallestablishment where he would take the animals forgrazing. When he reached the age of twelve, however,he left his father and went to the village of NurpurShahan, and later to Ghaur Ghashti (now Attock), wherehe stayed for two years studying fiqh, hadith, logic,mathematics, medicine and other disciplines, as GhaurGhashti was an educational centre of its time.

To obtain spiritual knowledge and satiate his love forIslam, Bari Imam visited many places such as Kashmir,Badakhshan, Bukhara, Mashhad, Baghdad and Damascus,where he met great scholars. Later, he went to SaudiArabia to perform Haj. Bari Imam’s spiritual mentorwas Hayatul Mir (Zinda Pir), who gave him the title of‘Bari Imam’, which proved his link to the Syed family.Through his Islamic lectures at Nurpur Shahan, BariImam inspired thousands of Hindus to convert to Islam.

Legend has it that the Mughal emperor AurangzebAlamgir had visited Nurpur Shahan to pay his respectto Bari Imam.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Spanish capital, Madrid, will host on May 19-28 the first Moroccan Spanish cultural festival, to reinforce cohabitation between the two peoples. Organised by a group of Moroccan associations in Spain, the event will take place under the theme “To Consolidate Cohabitation”.

The programme of the festival schedules round tables, Moroccan traditional and modern music concerts, fashion shows, sports competitions and activities for children.According to the organizers, the festival aims at reinforcing cultural ties between Moroccans and Spaniards and creating a space of meeting and conviviality between the two cultures.

A large part of the festival is devoted to Moroccan music, with shows of Sufi, Gnawa, Malhoun, Rai and popular Music. Several music groups will participate in this cultural meeting, including Said Oughassal, Gnawa dar jamai, Nass El Ghiwane, Raiband and Jadwane.

The festival will be closed on May 28 with crowning moments with the Sufi group “Belkhayat” and the “Tetouani” group of Andalusian music.

The public will also have the opportunity to get to know the wonders of Moroccan fashion, through shows on May 20, 22 and 26. The organisers will spotlight the mixture of tradition and modernity of the uncontestable success Caftan.

Summer Snow is a relatively simple novel crafted around universal themes: cross-cultural love, first loyalties, governmental duplicities, contemporary lists of nasties, and a chase in search of an errant nuke.

William T. Hathaway is a very interesting man, too. Tested as a special operations warrior in Vietnam and Panama, he is now a strong anti-war activist.He wrote Summer Snow during a year-and-a-half in the country that forms his stage.

That stage is Kyrgyzstan, a central Asian relic of the defunct Soviet Union. History is very deep out there. Mountains and crags and roadless wilds dominate the landscape. The Silk Road that once connected Europe to the silks and spices of Asia passes through. For most of modern history, little of note to outsiders happened there. Kyrgyzstan is on top of Afghanistan and provides funnels in and out of that troubled conglomerate of tribal allegiances so recently unknown to most Americans. The only bridge into northern Afghanistan leaves from Kyrgyz soil.

The Soviets had a number of missile silos in Kyrgyzstan. It is one leftover warhead that provides focus for Summer Snow's chase.

Add in one complexity to differentiate Summer Snow. The heroine, Cholpon, imbued with requisite dark-haired, dark-eyed exotic central Asian beauty is also a devotee of Djamila, an older woman and Shakya, head of an all woman order. Djamila has fashioned a fusion of Islamic Sufism, Hindu mysticism, and Transcendental Meditation (TM). Djamila knows how to save the world. Her women are both devoted and industrious.

The American protagonist, Jeff, is a battle-worn veteran of special operations, Vietnam and such, now retired somewhat. As a rather standard, densely-headed American, a bit on the "ugly" side, he needs some convincing that Djamila's version of TM will lead those who stole the nuke to give it back and go away quietly.

There are interludes with Cholpon, naturally.

For those, such as myself, fascinated with Central Asia and its spiritual disciplines, Summer Snow is a compendium. The mix of Sufi, Hindu, and TM ideas takes some suspension of credulity at the start but then flows relatively seamlessly to the denouement.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

If you thought it was only his hairstyle that stands out in a crowd, wait till you actually speak to Makrand Deshpande. He thinks, acts and lives differently.

An actor par excellence, a Sufi at heart and a nonconformist to the core, Deshpande happily lives in his own world of fantasy while life happens to him. And on rare occasions when someone wakes up this dreamer, he shares his love for life and more...

Destiny's will: I was a cricketer. In fact, there was a time when my parents got quite worried because I'd got into college through sports quota but I graduated as a dramatist!

There was a room next to my college gym from where you could hear all sorts of noises coming out throughout the day. I was curious so I inquired and found out about a group rehearsing for a play. Somebody asked me to take a chance and I did it. I guess I was destined to be here.

Stage talk: Theatre is my highest priority. I enjoy being a part of any healthy creation, be it through acting or directing, writing or singing. For me, life matters more than a character.

So I've never aspired to be an important figure or waited to be a 'kalakar'. I was happy being a 'seh-kalakar' also. I believe, the more you live or the way you live is the way you create. I only do work that gives me pleasure.

Filmi funda: One good thing about Bollywood is that once you are in it, you never go out. But my love for theatre has restricted me to make long commitments anywhere. Bollywood was a sweet serendipity to me. It has given me popularity, money and recognition.

I was always called a good luck actor and in fact Mukesh Bhatt actually calls me a 'lucky mascot'. I am just choosy about time and not a character. If I have time and need the money, I will surely do a film.

Love bytes: I do believe in 'love at first sight'. There is a chemistry that's like lightening. I can see a photo and feel that chemistry, but I can't explain it to you. Of course, I've fallen in love, but I don't have a follow-up theory in life. I have a time theory. If time and situation favours you, it will work.

Fixed image: You can't help it if people slot you. After all, who has the time to understand you? It doesn't bother me. People often perceive me as a serious actor, an intellect... and turn quiet on the sets, only to realise that I am the first one to have some masti.

Soul curry: I am a Sufi in my approach but also a doer. Any fantasy that I have, (I don't just dream about it...) I turn it into reality. I love to absorb life and then project it my way. Though a little moody, I am otherwise a calm, fun-loving and private person. I like to live life and not analyse it.

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘Sufi’? Esoteric whirling dervishes, sacred saints or Abida Parveen? Well, Sufism seems to be the flavour of the moment. From Kailash Kher’s music to Manish Malhotra’s designs, everything seems to have a Sufi influence.

“Sufism has been in existence in the communication arts for a long time now. The trend is definitely spreading but doing it just as a fad makes no sense,” says director/designer Muzaffar Ali who is working on a script on the works of the Sufi poet Rumi.

According to him, even Rabindranath Tagore and Raja Ram Mohan Roy were influenced by the tenets of Sufism. “You need to have the passion to follow it, be it music or any other art,” he says.

Sufism can be traced back to the 8th century, when Sufis were known as individuals trying to connect with God without following any particular religion. It produced a large body of poetry, with poets like Bullehshah, Rumi and Amir Khusro being hailed as the icons of Sufism. “Sufism means eternal love. You can see madness in a pure Sufi’s work — be it music, painting or any other art,” says singer Kailash Kher.

Though he is now known more for playback singing, Kailash denies diverting from his Sufi style of singing. “You have to constantly evolve. I cannot restrict my music to a dargah by using only a tabla and a harmonium. But dressing in a jeans and a t-shirt and yelling at the top of your voice doesn’t make you a Sufi singer.”

For lyricist Prasoon Joshi, the concept of Sufism is very contemporary. “Sufism suspends the idea of logic. Today, the world is moving towards individualism; the herd mentality is slowly fading. It caters to people who do not believe in religion but feel the existence of a supreme power. I think it caters to the youth. It’s like hip-hop which talks about existence and not about change.”

As far as fashion goes, Manish Malhotra’s collection for Lakme Fashion Week showed Sufi influences. “A friend of mine introduced me to Sufi music, which I find very soulful. For LFW, my collection was a complete package of free-flowing whites with Sufi sounds to go with it,” he says, adding, “though I’m not sure if it will catch on as a trend.”

Rabindranath Tagore spent the prime of his life at Patishar of Rajshahi, Shilaidah of Kustia and Shahjadpur of Pabna in Bangladesh. Though he came here to oversee his zamindari, these visits had immense impact on his thought, philosophy and creativity. The Tagore songs composed in this tradition are treasures of our music.

He spent most of the time watching the unique natural beauty, interacting with the bauls and rural bards as well as writing and composing. Most of his popular writings -- from Chhinnapatra to Nobel Prize-winning book Geetanjali -- have spontaneously overflowed through powerful emotions recollected from tranquility of these regions, especially in his poems and songs.

Eminent Tagore singer Sadi Mohammed, who after completing a Master's in Music in Rabindra Sangeet from Shantiniketan is currently teaching as the head of the department of Rabindra Sangeet at Government Music College, said, “Tagore claimed himself as 'Rabi Baul'. All of his devotional songs are based on Sufism. The philosophy and tune of 'baul songs' had an immense impact on Tagore songs. However, folk music of Bengal has been presented uniquely by Tagore like the other music genres, western music, north Indian raga and more, which have been followed in his songs. And the mastery of Tagore is that when he fused the folk music genres of Bengal in his songs, it was quite distinct from the original form. He extensively used tunes and styles from baul, kirtan, shyamasangeet, sari, bhatiali and even kathakata to give his songs a unique flavour and beauty."

Rabindranath was an adherent of 'Brahmo Samaj', to whom music is a kind of devotion. This is similar to 'doctrines of bauls', as the latter also offer the mystic songs as prayer for the supreme God. Tagore's intimacy with bauls such as Gagan Harkara, a disciple of great baul Lalon Shah, Khepa baul and others generated interest in Tagore about baul songs.

And like the bauls' quest for moner manush (urge for reunification of the soul and God), Tagore has also wandered in search of the supreme creator in his devotional songs. Sadi said, "After visiting the then East Bengal in the early 20th century, Tagore was greatly influenced by the bauls, who believe that the mystic creator lives in the soul of human beings. Tagore believed that love is devotion and nature is its background. That is why love, devotion and nature are interwoven in Tagore's songs.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Proud Muslims celebrated the birth of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh)with a holy march.

Hundreds of Islamic followers from around the country gathered in West Town to pay tribute to the prophet who founded their religion.It was also a chance for the national Naqshbandiya Aslamia group to remember key Islam figure Sheik Khawaja Sufi Muhammed Islam, who died in 1999 after founding their group.Kadafi Sadiq, member of the Naqshbandiya Aslamia committee, said: "This is a big message for the Muslim youth. It is a big attraction for them and it is the first time many have got to go on a really big event.

"It is a chance for us to tell them that the Prophet Muhammed came to spread a peaceful lifestyle and the message of this religion."

The march was organised by one of the late Sheik's disciples, Sufi Yusuf, from Peterborough, in honour of his mentor.The march set out from Mr Yusuf's home, in Alderman's Drive, and included city residents, as well as people from London, Manchester and York. It ended at the Madrassa Qassimmyia in Bamber Street, where prominent poets and scholars gave poetry readings and speeches.

The main guest of the day was Sufi Muhammed Asghur, who has taken over as head of the organisation.

Mr Sadiq said: "The speeches gave people a chance to express their views about things going on in the world, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."It got people talking about what we can do to follow the lifestyle and example of the Prophet Muhammed and make this world a better place."

Merapi holds a sacred—and deadly—significance for the villagers who seek its protection.

The Indonesian province of Central Java is charged with mysticism: animist spirits, Hindu gods, Sufi saints. One of the most sacred sites is a magnificent 3,000-m peak called Merapi, which literally means "fire mountain." For centuries villagers living on its slopes and base have pledged their fate to Merapi, not just because it's an active volcano but because it provides fertile soil for them to grow food and raise cattle, and sand and stone for them to build their homes. Every year they bring Merapi gifts of food, tobacco and clothing, both to appease it and to seek its protection. The volcano even has a caretaker, appointed by a former sultan of the nearby royal city of Yogyakarta, to ensure that offerings are made and rituals observed. This is no mere mountain, but a giver of life and a deliverer of death. In recent weeks Merapi has been showing its uncharitable side. A series of small eruptions has darkened the sky with hot clouds of gas, raining ash on the fields below, and discharging streams of lava down the mountain. By last Saturday, the dome remained intact, but threatened to blow at any time. "We are still at the highest alert status," says Subandrio, director of the Merapi-observation division of Indonesia's Center of Volcanological Research and Technology in Yogyakarta. "An explosion is still very possible."

When Merapi last erupted 12 years ago, 60 people were scorched to death by 300°C smoke. And since the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, which claimed 170,000 Indonesian lives, the government has been especially wary of the toll that can be inflicted by natural disasters. So the authorities have built dams to block the lava, set up evacuation routes, taught villagers to build bunkers, and transferred 20,000 people to makeshift shelters at least 8 km away.

Last week, however, thousands of them filed back to their homes, partly out of fear that they were being looted (they weren't). Merapi's current caretaker, 79-year-old Marijan, told reporters his dreams tell him the volcano won't blow its top, but that the eruptions are a warning to the people to fulfill their obligations to the spirits. He says he won't leave his own home, even though it's just 6 km from the summit: "If I do, I would not be guarding the mountain I have promised to guard. I would not be doing my duty." For the villagers living in Merapi's shadow, science has yet to supplant their faith in the power of their mountain.

Duma deputy Shamil Sultanov, 54, a member of the StateDuma’s Foreign Relations Committee, also heads thecoalition of Muslim deputies and has traveled theIslamic world trying to establish contacts withparliaments, governments and businesses in Muslimcountries. Ironically, he is a deputy from thenationalist Rodina party. Russia Profile Editor AndreiZolotov Jr. spoke to Sultanov on the origins of hisfaith, his view of the world and what it is like to bea practicing Muslim integrated into the Russianestablishment.

R.P.: Were you brought up in the Islamic faith, or didyou come to it yourself?

S.S.: I came to it myself. Although I am from a Muslimbackground ethnically, my parents did not observe anyrituals. My grandparents did perform salat (dailyIslamic ritual prayer), but in the strict Soviet timesit was all kept secret. I embraced the faith when Iwas 25, at the end of the 1970s. That was the timewhen our country entered a systemic crisis thatcontinues to this day. The ideologies on which we wereeducated crumbled before our eyes. It was only naturalthat many people began their search for alternativevalues then. Some people looked to the West, others toculture and yet others to the past. For me, theIslamic past of my family was one of the options.

I started to study Islamic metaphysics. In 1986, Ipublished a biography of [medieval Persian scholar andpoet] Omar Khayyam. He was a special representative ofSufism who was also connected to Neoplatonicrationalists. So, in a way, I came to Islam throughSufism and through Neoplatonic philosophers,particularly Plotin, whom I consider to be a Muslimbecause he rationally came to monotheism andinfluenced Khayyam.

My biggest interest is in the metaphysics andepistemology of Islam. You know, there is Islam andthere are present-day Muslims. Some 90 percent ofMuslims have no idea of Islam, its real spiritualtreasures.

R.P.: Where did you work at the time? Can you tell meabout your career?

S.S.: I was a senior research fellow at the MoscowInstitute of International Relations (MGIMO). There Iworked on theories of decision-making and politicalforecasting, wrote papers for the Politburo and theForeign Affairs Ministry. A lot of my papers werethrown out because my supervisors thought that what Iwrote was too complicated. In the late 1980s, therewas a failed attempt to create an Islamic RevivalParty of the Soviet Union. But then the Soviet Unionfell apart, and there was nothing left of the party.

At one point, I worked at the Institute of ForeignEconomic Relations, where together with several otherromantics I created a department of concept modeling.It was clear that what was happening to the SovietUnion was part of a strategic game, but ourgerontocracy had no strategy. We cherished the dreamof developing a strategy for our country, around whicha new elite could eventually consolidate. But nothingever came of it.

In 1990, it became pointless, everything wascrumbling, and I left for the newspaper that laterbecame known as Zavtra. I helped found the paper andserved as deputy to Alexander Prokhanov. Of all thelabels I have been called - a fascist, aÊMuslimfundamentalist - I most like the label “intellectualprovocateur,” which Literaturnaya Gazeta once calledme. All of the ideas which later developed in Russia -geopolitics, Eurasianism, the New Right, you name it -all were born on the pages of Zavtra, which was alwaysquietly read in every Kremlin office.

In 1996, I left Zavtra, because Prokhanov forged analliance with the Communists. I told him “Sasha,Communists have been dead since 1993, when they wereunable to draw even 5000 people into the streets. Tobet on Communists today is like digging up a coffinand running around with it, happy that thelong-suffering bones are rattling around inside.”

I went to Yury Skokov’s Center for the Study ofInter-Regional and Inter-Ethnic Economic Problems,because I am convinced that the key problem for Russia- always - is the relationship between the center andthe regions. In 1919, the country splintered into 120pieces, and a strict dictatorship was necessary to putit back together. By the mid-1990s, we were once againfacing a stark choice - either a terrible, stupiddictatorship, or smart authoritarianism. Not ademocracy! Forget it!

Together with Skokov we created the Party of RussianRegions, which eventually joined Rodina.

R.P.: Do you not sense a conflict between being aRussian Muslim and being part of the leadership ofRodina, which is perceived as a nationalist,xenophobic party, and was even banned from running forMoscow City Duma elections because of the now famouscampaign video deemed xenophobic?

S.S.: In our party, I am in charge of Dagestan,Bashkortostan, Tatarstan and other predominantlyMuslim regions. Our party has about 150,000 memberstoday, among them about 20,000 Muslims. When I speakto a Muslim audience and people ask me how I can be amember of a Russian nationalist party, I answer that atrue Muslim would never need to ask such a question.

Everything that happens is determined by the niyat, orintention of the Almighty. If this video came out,there must have been a niyat behind it. Every niyat isaimed at the good, at justice one way or the other.Where is the good with this video? Look at theconsequences. About a year ago, there were from300,000 to 500,000 people working as slaves in Moscow- with no rights whatsoever. These people escape frompoverty, from civil war at home, and they come toMoscow because there is money here. And I guess thatthey give between $2.5 and 3 billion annually inbribes to Moscow bureaucracy. Now, you can be offendedby being called this or that in the video. But isthere a real improvement? It caused a scandal,attention was attracted to the treatment of migrants,the State Duma adopted a law on the absorption ofthese immigrants. These people gained some rights. TheKoran says that if people think that something’s good,in reality it’s bad. Likewise if people thinksomething is bad, in reality it’s good. Only theAlmighty is all-knowing.

R.P.: Does the Russian state system adequatelyaccommodate the needs of Muslims?

S.S.: Of course not. It does not understand anyreligious people, including Muslims. There are manyreasons for this - our society was atheistic, allofficial religious figures were government-controlled.But things are changing. According to the JusticeMinistry, we have about 3,000 registered jamaats[Islamic associations], and I’d say there are morethan 3,000 unregistered ones. People say there are 20million Muslims in Russia. I think there are 1.5million real Muslims at most. Some 9 to 11 million arethose who I call hypocrites. They say they are Muslimsbut, in reality, they do nothing. And among the 1.5million there are some 30,000 to 40,000 radicals,Wahhabis.

R.P.: Is it hard to be an observant Muslim believerintegrated in Russian society?

S.S.: It is hard to be a believer. Unfortunately, wehave today a widespread light, hypocritical attitudetowards religion. We have Christians who think thatwearing a cross makes them Christians, Muslims whojust proclaim shahada (the Muslim confession of faith)and think they are Muslims.

Believing is a supreme way of life that consumes allyour energy. I observe all the rituals and not onlythat - I also think. The main problem of Islam todayis that people just do things automatically.

After putting life as Mrs 007 behind her, Diane Cilento set off to find meaning in her life. Like an agile cat, Diane Cilento sees her life as a journey through nine lucky lives. But her autobiography can be more neatly divided into two: before and after Sean Connery.

Before is the sensual half: men fall at the feet of the frisky Aussie actress. After is the esoteric half: Cilento becomes the hero of her own story, searching for meaning through spiritual experimentation. Already intrigued by Buddhism, she embraces Sufism for a sense of purpose.

The division took place about 1970 when she knew "I could not live the rest of my life in the shadow of 007". Soon after, she stumbled upon In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching by P.D. Ouspensky. She barely understood it then, but the book became a key that opened a door to the second part of her life. Ouspensky had written of his studies with the mysterious Russian, George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a guru and philosopher and, some have said, a charming charlatan.

Following in their wake was the British intellectual, J.C. Bennett - who, in turn, became Cilento's guru and whose ideas she finally adapted into running her Karnak Playhouse within the Daintree National Park from the 1980s.

At 72, Cilento marches on, still feeling like a child, yet knowing she is "old", and still looking for Mecca, literally. Her book, which begins poetically with her early life at Mooloolaba, ends equally serenely, with her journey last year to Mecca.

One summer night in Turkey, Jalaluddin Rumi and Shams Tebriz, his teacher, were out admiring the moon. The whole of Konya village was asleep. Shams remarked, "Behold the beauty of the moon, and look at the people sleeping in a state of unconsciousness!" Rumi responded, "They are sleeping. We should not wake them up." This prompted a reprimand from Shams, "Rumi, you are a sea of benevolence! Your job is to awaken people, whether they are of Konya, Istanbul or Damascus."

Later, when Shams went into hibernation, Rumi wrote a poem: "I remember the moon that had paled in front of my moon (Shams) because my moon is not a moon; it is a sun. O Shams! Now I suffer remembering those moments when we used to go round and round in that moonlit night and do Zikr… Let me describe that night, when the earth and sun danced and gazed at the stars in the sky. I revolved around my sun and my sun revolved around its own self."

Rumi's advice is, "Just like the Prophet kept his lips on one end of the Ney (Persian flute) and the Almighty's songs began coming out from the other end, when you empty your spirit of vanity, His songs begin echoing." There is pain and imploration in this emptiness, like in a 'sigh'. In this space, love takes birth, true love gets nurtured and blossoms.

Love, pain and devotion are central to Sufism. The pain should arise in the heart and the heart needs to implore. Then the heart lotus opens and divine love fills you, making life a celebration. We all long for love, but we look at the wrong places. Love based on mental compatibility will die soon. We delude ourselves repeatedly that we are in love, but we falter and get hurt. Love between Shams and Rumi was of the soul, therefore fulfilling. It is a blessing to fall, nay, rise in love.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Zila Khan has just returned from Pakistan and she iswaxing eloquent about the reception accorded to herthere. Home to the genre of Sufi music, Pakistan hasits own Sufi queens — Farida Khanum, Nayyara Noor,Tina Sani — but “that adds to the warmth of thewelcome”, she says.

“I had a live performance in Lahore, which wasappreciated by the audience. I sang in Iqbal’s home,which is like a shrine for a Sufi singer,” says thesinger whose rendering of Sufi compositions has madeher famous. Khan was a member of the delegation thatwent to Pakistan for the release of Taj Mahal.

“It is only when you visit that side of the borderthat you realise how similar the two cultures are. Oursense of humour is the same. We have similar tastes infood. There is so much that brings us together,” saysKhan, lamenting that cultural exchanges have been heldto ransom by political pulls.

“We are open to their artists coming to India andperforming. We have had Shafqat Ali Khan, Raahat Aliand Waaris Ali with the pop band Strings, allperforming in different cities in India. In contrastthe number of Indian artistes going across the borderis few,” she adds.

Khan has been flying in and out of the country givingperformances in not only the sub-continent but alsoWashington, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Bostonwhere expatriates hanker for music from back home,whether it is Hindi film songs, Sufi music or Indipop. Talking about the increasing acceptance of Sufimusic, made more popular as Bollywood embraced it, shesays, “Sufi music is easier to understand and thelistener can identify with the words which has arustic feeling to them.” The popularity of her albumIshq Ki Naayee Baahar is a case in point. It hastraces of Sufi, folk and semi-claasical music, shesays.

However, Khan’s first love continues to be classicalmusic. Admitting that classical music can only beappreciated by the select few who understand thenuances of a raag, Khan says that “classical music isa nasha (addiction) for her. That’s where I find myinspiration,” she says, adding that her next albumwould be closer to the classical music format.

Srinagar, May 19:A one-day seminar on “Sufism and itsRelevance today” was organized by Institute of Peace,Research and Action, an NGO under project CROKSY atInstitute of Management Public Administration andRural Development here Thursday.

Light was thrown by speakers on various topics onSufism. The Sufi perspective of post modernism andSufism versus environmentalism, besides other relatedtopics were also spoken about. Giving details the organizers told that the generalobjective of the project is to work with the studentsyouth, develop and effective communication with themand operationalise on educational programme aimed atimparting the necessary knowledge, values and skillstowards a cultural regeneration and renewal of thestudent youth with a special focus on four modernvalues namely democracy, secularism, human rights andsocial justice.

Director Information Kh. Farooq Ahmad Renzu whilereferring to various upsurges in the annals ofKashmiri history said that the Kashmiri mind was veryfertile which has always resists to its subjugation byforeign elements. He said that the Kashmiri culture isa product of gradual evolution and synthesis ofvarious faiths of Hinduism Vedanta, Buddhism andIslam. He lamented the fact that the presentgeneration has unfortunately got drowned in theendless ocean of confusion. He said that the world isindebted to Kashmir for many modern day concepts ofthe democracy and secularism. (INF)

Muslims in Peterborough are set to hold a holy marchto celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammed.

The event, in West Town, will also be in remembranceof another key figure within Islam, the late SheikKhawaja Sufi Muhammad Aslam – founder of theNaqshbandiya Aslamia, who died in 1999.One of his disciples, Sufi Yusuf, who lives inPeterborough, helped organise the march, and followersfrom across the country are expected to attend.Prominent poets and scholars will give poetry readingsand speeches inspired by the occasion during theevent, which will also be attended by special guestSufi Muhammed Asghur, who has taken over the missionfrom the Sheikh.

Kadafi Sadiq, from the Naqshbandiya Aslamia Committee,said: "We would like to give the message to youngpeople that the holy prophet came to spread themessage of Islam and the religion teaches people tolead a peaceful lifestyle. "The sheikh revived thismessage and brought it to this country.

"It will be a beautiful occasion with special guestsand food, and everyone, no matter what race, religionor colour, will be very welcome."

The march will set off from 109 Aldermans Drive, inPeterborough, at 1pm and will culminate at theMadrassa Qassimmyia in Bamber Street.

Press Service of the President of the Republic of UzbekistanFriday, May 19, 2006

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is visitingBukhara region. On the second day of his visit, 19May, the Uzbek leader visited the memorial complex ofBahauddin Nakshband.

In the years of independence, large-scale work hasbeen carried out in the sphere spirituality,enlightenment and education. Serious attention is paidto perpetuation of the memory of great ancestors,preservation and wide propaganda of their heritage.

Scientists are studying the heritage of Hadj BahauddinNakshband, an outstanding thinker, famousrepresentative of Sufism, his invaluable contributionto the world intellectual treasury, as well as theeffective application of this spiritual wealth in deedof upbringing young generation.

Jubilees of Imam Buhari, Hadj Abduhalik Gijduvani, AbuMansur Maturidi, Burhonuddin Marginoniy werecelebrated widely on the initiative of the UzbekPresident. Centre of Memorial Complex of BahauddinNakshband was created in 2004 on the basis of theresolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan.

Viewing the complex, the Uzbek head appreciated theconstructive work carried out in Bukhara for the yearsof independence, and noted the necessity of increasingorchards, looking after parks and flower gardens.

ISLAMABAD: Visitors chant prayers of devotion and hopes for future reunion, as they obsequiously admit their own insignificance in comparison to the piety of renowned saint, Bari Imam, during the final day of his urs (death anniversary).

Around 200,000 devotees return home today, after five days and six nights at the shrine, where a rather sad environment greets visitors. Some devotees cry, as others comfort them. “Who knows if we will get another chance to pay homage to Bari Badshah (king),” said a visitor.

The climax of the annual urs is the mehndi (henna) ceremony. In the sub-continent, the mehndi ceremony is part of marriage celebrations. This practice, however, is common to urs celebrations as well, as the word ‘urs’ means marriage. In Sufi philosophy, the soul of a saint unites with God on the day of his death. Sufism, therefore, takes a saint’s death to be his marriage to God, which is why death anniversaries of saints are called urs, where people dance and beat drums to celebrate the event just like marriages in the sub-continent are celebrated.

Ghulam Jafar, a devotee visiting the shrine, said that his caravan had brought henna to the shrine from Peshawar, from where he had travelled by foot with a party of 800 men. The caravan travelled 15 kilometres a day and stopped at 25 places on the way, he said, adding that more devotees joined their caravan at every stop. “It takes eight days for the caravan to reach the shrine. However, women and children cannot join the caravan. Only men with beards can join us,” he said.

The urs tradition is around 250 years old and was pioneered by Davang Shah, a saint, said Jafar, adding that the tradition was celebrated by decoratively placing a ‘gharroli’ (small pitcher), ‘charaghs’ (earthen lamps), ‘desi ghee’ (cooking oil made of animal fat) and henna at 10pm at the saint’s tomb. The ‘hujra’ (the room where the saint is buried) was then locked and reopened at 3am, he said. When the plate of henna was taken back before dawn, said Jafar, the impression of Bari Imam’s hand could be seen on it.

Hundreds of people, including transvestites, placed their henna plates at the tomb, he said. He claims that a group of saints known as the ‘Pirs of Peshawar’ are the real custodians of the shrine, which included Syed Rozi Aga, Syed Gul Aga, Syed Sheri Aga, Syed Hassan Aga and Syed Muhammad Raza Shah. However, approximately 60 families living in the areas surrounding the shrine, claim to be the saint’s heirs. So far, the only verifiable one is Raja Sarfaraz Akram, who had been recognised by the government as Bari Imam’s true heir. Akram is a young law graduate who runs his own tax consultancy firm in Islamabad. “No pictures please. We are here to serve the masses, not ourselves. I cannot give you a formal interview, because my murshid (spiritual teacher) disliked publicity. But you may share your thoughts with me. I’m no custodian of the shrine, only a servant,” he said while talking to Daily Times, as he personally served food and offered tea to the devotees who had gathered for the langer (free food). He paused in between only to stop admiring visitors from kissing his hands and touching his feet.

Many of Bari Imam’s relations are currently involved in disputes as to the rightful heir and custodian of his shrine. “Bari Imam was born in 1617 and his real name was Syed Abdul Latif Shah. His lineage dates back to the seventh Shia imam. At Nurpur Shahan, Bari Imam prayed for many years. After the sad demise of his wife and daughter, he became reclusive and spent most of his time praying. He preached throughout his life to non-believers,” said a research paper by Dr Hafeezur Rehman Chaudhry, the head of the Anthropology Department at Quaid-e-Azam University.

Urs celebrations are part of a tradition that has lasted for centuries. The 1893 District Gazetteer of Rawalpindi refers to the urs - “The principal religious gathering in the district takes place at Nurpur, a small village at the foot of the Margalla hills, where the shrine of a Musalman saint, Bari Imam Latif Shah, is located. It is visited by large crowds at the time of the fair or mela. Latif Shah got the name of Bari from his constant wanderings in the forest. The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah, is said to have visited Nurpur in the saint’s lifetime, when some of the buildings were erected.”

One of the major attractions for devotees at the shrine are manats (solemn pledges), which they make at the tomb of the saint. Manats are promises made by visitors that require fulfilment, such as arranging for food at the shrine, in return for the saint’s help to solve the devotee’s personal problems, that range from employment or academics to bearing children. A woman at the shrine claimed that though she had been infertile, the saint had helped her bear children, after which she vowed to visit the shrine once a month for the rest of her life. Fourteen-year-old Rani, a devotee from Haripur, said she had attended Bari Imam’s urs 14 times with her family. “As my birth was the result of a manat that my parents had made, my family brings me to shrine every year. I have developed a passion for the urs. I was able to pass my class 8 examination because of a manat,” she said.

Din Muhammad from Sindh said that though he had been visiting the shrine for three years, his manats had not been fulfilled. “There is a time for everything. However, if the government would only ensure better living standards for the people, they might stop making mantas,” he said.

A new coffee table book revisits the 700 years olddargah at Nizamuddin.

At a glance, she looks ill-equipped to talk about thelegendary dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya in south Delhi.Laxmi Dhaul is a saraswat Brahmin by lineage and aMaharashtrian by birth. But the 50-year-old mother ofthree has penned some 120 pages on the dargah in herbook The Dargah of Nizamuddin Auliya (Rupa, Rs 595),which was released at Urs Mahal, Nizamuddin, lastevening.

"I made a lot of effort to have the book released onthis day," says Dhaul about the fact that the launchcoincided with the 702nd Urs celebration at thedargah.

The coffee table book is not her first attempt atdiscovering the mystic powers that the dargahs exude.Dhaul, who has always been attracted to the historyand culture of Delhi, was first exposed to sufism atthe Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's dargah in Ajmer when shehad her children admitted to the Mayo College. Soonshe compiled a A4-sized book, The Sufi Saint of Ajmer,which was published and then reprinted in 2003 byRupa.

''The sanctity of the place gets lost in swotting awaythe flies and shooing away the beggars at most ofthese places. People all around you are telling youwhere to deposit the donations or where to buy thechadar from. And the next moment you are happily outof the dust and crowd,'' says Dhaul, who alsoco-partners husband Harry Dhaul's NGO, IndependentPower Production Association of India.

For Dhaul, her ''inexposure'' to dargahs has worked toher advantage. ''I have a layman's view on the dargahand even little details about the peer's life are newfor me,'' she reveals.

While Dhaul's second book is out with support fromDelhi Tourism Department, she is now busy working onher next venture, the ''Eklingji Shrine in Udaipur''.This, besides plans to pen a comprehensive book on thedargahs of Delhi.

By Rachael Kohn - ABC Radio National - AustraliaTranscript from a recording of the program "The Spirit of Things"Sunday 6pm, May 7 (repeated Monday 9pm and Friday 4am) 2006

She made it big in the movies in the 1950s and 60s, married 'James Bond', Sean Connery, but later turned her back on stardom to embark on a life of spiritual discovery. From Gurdjieff to Sufism, Diane's awakening has been profound.

Rachael Kohn: 'No Regrets' sang Edith Piaf, and for my guest today, it's probably a suitable anthem. Hello, I'm, Rachael Kohn. Welcome to The Spirit of Things on ABC Radio National. This is the second in our Epiphanies series, personal tales of courage, adventure and fulfillment.

My guest today is Diane Cilento, one of those rare people who's followed her heart, in love, in her profession, and in her spiritual life. If anyone's been on a journey, Diane has, leading her ever forward into new territory, even to Mecca, as a Sufi pilgrim.She's an acclaimed actress in film and on stage, a writer and film maker, a spiritual seeker, and an owner and director of a theatre, and much more besides. She's had a couple of famous husbands: Sean Connery, the first James Bond, and Tony Shaffer, one of England's great playwrights. In all that, Diane's never lost her feisty personality which she had way back in boarding school in Queensland. All of which she's written about in her new autobiography, My Nine Lives.

I met her when she was down from Queensland to give a series of talks on Sufi Poetry and Sainthood for the Temenos Foundation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

Diane Cilento, welcome to The Spirit of Things.

Diane Cilento: Thank you.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you grew up in Brisbane, the daughter of two famous doctors, Lady Phyllis and Sir Raphael Cilento, and I think your father became the head of the World Health Organisation; were you expected to achieve great things?

Diane Cilento: Nooo! I'm in fact the only one except for a sister who didn't become a doctor. I have three brothers and a sister who was also married to a doctor, and in a way, it was expected that you would go into medicine and be part of the medical group that was our family. My mother and father, and all the rest of them.

Rachael Kohn: Goodness. So joining the theatre must have been a very rebellious thing to do.

Diane Cilento: Well I think they thought I was a bit stupid, actually. I mean, I didn't go to university, I think I'm the only member of my family that didn't. I did go to RADA and I did go to the American Academy of Dramatic Art, but that, I mean actually have you noticed that professional people don't take - I mean especially doctors - don't take other professions like acting seriously. They think it's sort of a bit of a joke.

Rachael Kohn: Do you think your family didn't take your profession seriously?

Diane Cilento: Well they didn't take it seriously until I started earning more money than they were! That's when they started taking me seriously. But I think even then it was a bit - no, I think that they began to think it was OK after that, now.

Rachael Kohn: Well you went on to have quite a significant career as an actress, playing some of the most memorable parts like Molly Seagram, the saucy wench in Tom Jones, that great film of the '60s. And not long after that your then husband, Sean Connery, I guess he was your second husband, became a superstar as James Bond. And that was in the mid-'60s. That must have been a terrific time for you, but also very challenging. What were the personal challenges of that kind of fame so early?

Diane Cilento: Well. I was more famous than him when we married, and then he got to be very, very famous, and we lived in a funny little house in the middle of Acton Common. And of course we had absolutely no protection, and nobody really knew about security and guards and people then, we never thought about it.

We had 17 robberies, and oh dear, it was very challenging, believe me, because see I think England at that time, I mean America had had Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, but England suddenly got Bond and the Beatles, and they'd never really had any internationally ding-dong drag out celebrity type lifestyles. And it was a very, very swift learning process. And none of us knew that obviously it would cost so much money. And as Sean's Scottish, he didn't want to spend anything on guards coming around, and I didn't know anything about all that stuff. We were a bit Babes in the Wood about it.

Of course, after a while you get to not be, especially with the paparazzi who invade your space continuously.

Rachael Kohn: Did that spark some questions in you about what it is to be Diane Cilento?

Diane Cilento: Well it certainly sparked questions about the idea of being famous. Because when you're a working actor, what you're really entranced by is the skill of acting. And then suddenly, when you get into films, and I had a contract with Alexander Korda long ago before this, and he then died when I was in America, so I had been sort of passed on to the government; I was a civil servant.

British Lion was owned by the British government, so I was shoved into all these films, and suddenly the gilt goes off the gingerbread in the acting stakes, and you think, Oh God, not another one of these ghastly films. And you get put into - at least I did - at that time I didn't fit the mould, you see, never, of that sort of British type star, of Deborah Kerr 'arrive as a star', get your hair sort of done into these awful little globules and follow a formula which I wasn't good - I couldn't do it.

Rachael Kohn: Well I think you actually described yourself as a young woman, being impetuous and passionate and what else? Dramatic. Though I suppose that's predicable for an actress. Did that work for you, or against you, in what became a budding spiritual quest?

Diane Cilento: Well, first of all Sean didn't want me to work, because he had a very different idea of what wives do. They sit at home and they do other things than acting. So I thought that I'd be sitting at home and writing books. So I started writing and I did write two books actually. I wrote one called Hybrid, but the first one was called The Manipulator, and it was really because I'd been to the Mexican Film Festival with Tony Richardson. See, I was in the Royal Court and all that, too. And I'd seen the sort of manipulation that goes on in the film industry, and I suppose I began finally to actually begin to look at things in a more questing way.

Rachael Kohn: Well you got involved in the esoteric movement called the School of Philosophy that was begin by J.G. Bennett, and I think he was based in London, was he?

Diane Cilento: No, he was based in Gloucestershire. At first he was in London and in fact I knew him in London and used to go to meditational things at his place, which was in the next street from me in Kingston. But he started a great big school in Gloucestershire, which was in the same school that If - you know that film called If, where the boys from school revolted against their schoolmaster and threw him in Sherwater - it was called Sherborne - and the school was left empty, and then it was taken over by Bennett and called the School of Continuous Education, and that's where I lived for a year.

Rachael Kohn: Is that where your interest in Sufism first began?

Diane Cilento: Yes, it did, because Sufism really was the parent of I suppose you could say, Sufism was the parent of Gurdjieff, and the source from which he took a lot of his work, and although Bennett wasn't a complete Gurdjieffian, he did also go back, and I find myself going back to the source of where the knowledge came from.

And I found that it came from very much from a philosopher that lived in the 12th century called Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, and I met the man who did translations, he was a Turkish gentleman, called Bulent Rauf, and then I was taken to the Whirling Dervishes to stay with them and do this film, and then I was taken to Turkey to help with the translations of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi's work. So suddenly, I was taken into a different world, where the work went back to a very long time before.

Rachael Kohn: How did you find yourself making a film about the Whirling Dervishes? That couldn't have been easy in the first place to organise.

Diane Cilento: I know that this will sound very bizarre. First of all I had a dream that I saw this whirling white figure, and I wrote to Bulent, and I said, Look, I keep seeing this strange - and I thought he'd say, 'Go away and take a pill, or have a shower, or do something.' But he said, 'No, no, we'll go to the Turkish Embassy together, because I happen to know the Mevlevi, he was an archaeologist'.

Rachael Kohn: Who was that?

Diane Cilento: Rauf his name was. And he was also a great chef. We went to the Turkish Embassy and we did - I had just done a film for the BBC with the director, and that director was supposed to come with us and sign up, because at that time, they'd just done Midnight Express and no-one was allowed to go into Turkey to film, because they were terrified you were going to put a camera in a paper bag and get into their prisons and do some nasty stuff.

Anyway, this silly BBC director didn't come, so suddenly we all were there, and they wouldn't let him come because he hadn't signed on in the Embassy. So there was me who had to direct it. I would never have done it if I hadn't actually been to that school, because by that time, practically speaking, I'd tackle anything.

Rachael Kohn: I was going to say, Diane, you never recoil from a challenge, do you?

Diane Cilento: Well I couldn't. We were all there, nine people and a group of wonderful technicians and we were off down to stay with the Mevlevi and they were all ready to go, and the old Sheikh, Suleiman Dede, and Ahmed Becan and all these people were lined up. And I was sort of suddenly the director. What did happen though was it took me a long time to edit it. And that was very exciting. I loved that. But I mean, I promise you, the editing was together-together, and to do it right, I had to write the whole thing, then I had to get myself and Bulent to do the words. It won a few prizes and it is a lovely film, I think. And I suppose probably it's the only film which explains the ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes, the sema, in fact what's really happening.

I've often see a lot of films of people turning round and round, and it's very fascinating, but you don't know why they're doing it. That's what my film's about, why they're doing, what they're doing.

Rachael Kohn: Tell me about that, and why it affects you, why it's important to you.

Diane Cilento: Well it's important to anybody who's watching it because in fact they are taking part in it. It's called the sema and it's actually a meditational practice that, it's sort of like the transmission of blessings through - they raise their right hand and it comes through that place, then it goes through their heart and out their left hand, and it's actually a wonderful symbolic passing of the energies from one world to another, and I think really that's what happens.

It has the most extraordinary effect upon those people watching it, they are taken into it, it's wonderfully - it's with the music, and the music of the flute, and the music of the blind man, who sings the incantation, and the thing called the walk where they acknowledge the godhead of each one. It's a very, very complicated but beautiful ceremony from beginning to end.

I had one of the guys turn. I found a nightclub which had a square as a dance floor, and I put him in the middle of it as the circle within the square, and I put the camera right above his head and shot down on him. But he couldn't do it unless the whole of the incantation, this flute, and the whole thing was done, then he could do it. Without that, he couldn't actually turn properly. Odd that, wasn't it?

Rachael Kohn: Well there are no women dervishes are there?

Diane Cilento: Oh yes. Of course. But they don't turn like that, but there are really a lot of women dervishes, yes, and they've got a lot of Vroom. They're very powerful women, promise you.

At one time there was a woman dervish there who was extraordinary, her name was Madame Ayashler and she had a big turban on a big stick, and I was shooting in the tomb of Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi and someone because we were supposed to be sort of non-Muslims, pulled out all the plugs and the light. And so suddenly the lights went tchiu! like that, and she knew, she'd been watching, and she went over and she tongue-lashed them with a big stick and they were all terrified. Up went the lights again in a flash!

Rachael Kohn: Diane, one of the great names associated with Konya in Turkey, is the Sufi poet Jalâluddîn Rumi who fled there with his family when he was a boy. And you've actually lectured on his poetry for the Temenos Institute. Would you read a bit of his poetry for us?

Diane Cilento: Well one of the names that Jalâluddîn Rumi had was the Master, Mevlana. And he was incredibly enamoured of poetry, calligraphy and especially that music of the ney, which is that reed flute that you hear that's so haunting. And his students were encouraged to go down to the river and pick their own reed and fashion it for themselves, for their own mouth and their own hands. And he wrote this poem about that.

Listen to the reed forlornCrying since it was torn from its rushy beda song of love and pain.

The secret of my song, though near, none can see and none can hear.Oh, for a friend to know the signAnd mingle all his tears with mine.

'Tis the flame of love that fired me,'Tis the wine of love inspired me.Would you learn how lovers bleed?Then listen, listen to the reed.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, Sufi poets are known for mixing up passion and love and divinity in this beautiful way. Is that what is so powerful for you, that mixture?

Diane Cilento: Oh yes. I mean the love affair's very powerful, but also the humour and the individuation, that the extraordinary advanced tastiness of most Sufi poets. Each one is different, and each one has their own sort of as though you know them, because they're so funny, some of them are very funny.

Rachael Kohn: Well you read that poem from memory. Do you read them as a kind of spiritual practice?

Diane Cilento: I don't know. I just do like them. I don't think you can segregate spiritual practices from anything, that's just it, it's just your life, and once you come across these poems, I mean I like lots of other poems, too. For my picture I used T.S. Eliot and different people, although strangely enough, T.S. Eliot was a pupil of J.G. Bennett's, did you know that?

Rachael Kohn: No.

Diane Cilento: Well, he was.

Rachael Kohn: Amazing.

Diane Cilento: And they were both Catholics. [T.S.Eliot was an Anglo-Catholic.] But you can be in the Sufi way and be any - although it is based in Islam. But I mean, it doesn't really matter what basically the religion is, it's all the same thing. It's all oneness. And I don't think you can divorce or segregate or pigeonhole life in that way much. It is just life, and poetry's part of that.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you were married to the celebrated English playwright and screen writer, Tony Shaffer for many years. Did he share your spiritual interests?

Diane Cilento: Yes, he did, but he was more fascinated by the personalities. He loved Bulent Rauf for instance, he thought he was wonderful. He loved J.G. Bennett as well. Bulent had been married to King Farouk's sister. He was an extraordinary man, and he loved smoked salmon and that very black chocolate when it's dipped in grapefruit peel. And things like that. He was a wonderful sensualist. And Tony loved all that sort of thing too.

He did quite a lot of work with everyone, and he came when we did the translating bits, and when we went - there is a place in Scotland that is run, it's called Beshara, which is 'In this way', it's a school. And he came there and did a retreat and he was nearly always though more fascinated by the theatricality of it than the personalities, than in fact the idea of meditational practice. I don't think he had the gift of meditation. He used to think, not meditate.

Rachael Kohn: Did you ever want to convey or transmit your spiritual interests to your children?

Diane Cilento: I know that that's not possible. You can talk about it. One of my children lives in a Sufi group but the other, my son, doesn't. And I would never think of trying to proselytise anything to my children. That son actually lived at Sherborne, when I was at that school. And I think, I mean Mr Bennett used to say about children that they learn through their skin, so I don't think I would ever try and lead my children anywhere, they'll go where they'll go.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, you went on a pilgrimage recently to Mecca. Why did you want to do it?

Diane Cilento: I was invited, and I wasn't actually going to go at first, and then I knew I had to. And I really was very pleased that I did. It was quite an experience.

Rachael Kohn: Who went with you?

Diane Cilento: I went with my daughter, and the group of people that she lives with, who are an extraordinary group of people who live in Sydney, and theirs is a, I suppose you'd call it a tekya, a school of Sufism. But they're Islamic, they've got a Sheikh who is Egyptian, very nice and extraordinary man, who was strangely enough in the United Nations as well. And he invited all of us, and of course you can't go as a single woman, unless you've got a male person to look after you. My son-in-law did that, but I didn't take any notice of it much, I just went around anyway. I mean I'm certainly not nubile still, so it didn't really matter.

Rachael Kohn: What were you wearing?

Diane Cilento: I was wearing my hijab, which took me a while to get used to, especially as the temperature was 45, and I did lose a few pairs of sandals, because they were made of leather, I mean anything like that, leave outside it's all gone afterwards. So I learnt not to do that.

Rachael Kohn: How long was it?

Diane Cilento: I was there for three weeks. It was very extraordinarily momentous. You forget, it's like a dream. You forget about time, you don't know what day it is, or what time it is, because they do the circumambulation in the middle of the night, because it's too hot to do it.

Rachael Kohn: So that's the Kaaba, the great black stone.

Diane Cilento: The Kaaba is covered with beautifully embossed damask, it smells, if you put your nose against it it smells of attar of roses. People are trying to kiss this black stone. I didn't go near there, it was a bit like a sort of football scrum, but I did the whole circumambulation and went to see the feet of Abraham and I thought it was an extraordinary experience. It takes quite a while, and I did it more than once, I did it quite often.

Rachael Kohn: You've lectured on the Sufi saint, Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz, who was also a poet. He was sort of quirky, and even ostracised by the Muslim clergy. Can you read from one of his poems?

Diane Cilento: Certainly.

Spill the oil lamp, set the boring place on fire!

If you've ever made wanton love with God,

Then you have ignited that brilliant light inside,

That every person needs.

So spill the oil! Set the boring place on fire!

Rachael Kohn: You know, when I read that, it made me think of perhaps how you might have felt as a school student in the boarding school, when you fled. Does that poem have a certain resonance or connection to your anarchic spirit?

Diane Cilento: Oh God yes. Anybody has got my tick if they have a bit of that sort of anarchy in them. I like - I think those sort of things are born in you, and I always have to have something that spills over, let's say. It's not that I try and create chaos or anything, it's just that life has to be sort of on the bubble, I think.

Rachael Kohn: Well there's something about love being at the centre of Sufism, which always contains an element of yearning for me.

Diane Cilento: Well of course. That's what it's all about. What people really want is to be embraced, it doesn't matter whether they want to go and - whatever they want to do, even if they're out to make a million bucks in a card game, it's still about being embraced. It's being approved of and loved. And that's what it is, it's the whole of life is this incredible love affair, which the last poem in that, that Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi poem, which is written as God speaking to those who will come after, or are here now, or have been, to say Why don't you see me? Why can't you hear me? I've only created you with perceptions so that I can be the object of your perception.

That's what I feel Sufism has. Instead of all that sort of knocking that goes on and dogma, it sort of says, Oh, don't worry about all that stuff, it's just a love affair. And that's what I think is, you know, that's it.

Rachael Kohn: Diane, it's been a joy talking to you, thank you so much for being on The Spirit of Things.

Diane Cilento: Thank you, it's been very lovely to talk to you too, Rachael.

Rachael Kohn: Diane Cilento has written about her life in a new book, just out, called My Nine Lives.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

"There is always a controversy about who has the right to define Islam but it is all about accepting differences"- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasim Frembgen

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Wasim Frembgen recently launched his book and exhibition titled The Friends of God - Sufi Saints in Islam: Popular Poster Art from Pakistan at the Goethe Institut in Karachi. He is chief curator of the Oriental Department at the Museum of Ethnology in Munich as well as lecturer of anthropology and Islamic Studies at various universities in Germany. Dr. Frembgen has been working in Pakistan since 1981 and has conducted numerous researches and published books and papers regarding Islamic, particularly Sufi, belief in Pakistan. His latest book, published by the Oxford University Press, is a collection of posters of Sufi Saints from all across Pakistan.

What are your areas of interest?Since the late 1970s, my areas of interest have generally been in Islam. However, since Islam has many facets and dimensions, my interest specifically has been the Sufi tradition and the veneration of Muslim saints. In addition, my work as the curator of the Museum of Ethnology in Munich, Germany, means that, because of the 'material culture' of the museum, I am also interested in Muslim art as well as the expression of art among the people - folk art, popular art - and the Sufi posters are in a way popular art in Pakistan.

What were your reasons for being attracted to Pakistan?The seeds were sown in childhood. I had a very illustrious aunt, who was also my godmother. She embraced Islam and she married a Pukhtun Popalzai from Afghanistan and travelled across the world. Since childhood, my eyes were set towards Afghanistan and South Asia. Initially, I wanted to do fieldwork in Afghanistan but due to the Soviet invasion this was not possible. So, I shifted my focus, initially, to the mountains of Hindukush, Karakoram and the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Since 1981, I have been coming to Pakistan every year and, in the process, I have become 'Pakistanised.' Step by step I was socialised into Pakistani life. I embraced Islam in 1988 and changed my second name.Pakistan, in addition, is extraordinary and unique. It is a meeting place of cultures and it offers everything a researcher could want. I was also attracted to Pakistan because it is in many ways still unknown, as compared to other parts of the world such as India and Iran. It provides a lot of chances for new discoveries.

Being a foreigner and coming here to work, what sort of barriers did you face initially?It was really similar to learning like a child. You have to learn how to behave and adjust your personal habits, you have to adjust to the food and learn the language - at least to a certain extent. But adjusting to the society is always a challenge for an anthropologist doing fieldwork in a strange country.

What else have you researched on in Pakistan?I originally started with anthropological fieldwork in Nager, which is opposite Hunza in the Karakorams. I did a general ethnography there and worked on political history.

The second fieldwork was in Hurbund valley in Indus-Kohistan. Hurbund was a very dangerous area to do fieldwork in because there is still blood revenge going on and there is no central authority. They have their jirga system and fortified villages, with watchtowers. I was working on Islam and the social system. The Tablighi Jamaat is very active there, not the Sufi tradition.

Then I kept coming to Punjab and to Sindh-to Sehwan Sharif-to attend melas and urs to see how the common people venerate the saints in the low-land provinces of Pakistan. The Sufi shrine is a sort of aesthetic space. It's such an interesting visual culture and it's appealing to the senses in that you can get some taste of paradise eating the sweets and eating at the lungar. There is also the auditory aspect. You are listening to Sufi music, to qawwali and kafian. In that way, all the senses of the human body are offered a lot and the whole experience gives sukoon to people. I wanted to see what the experience of the Pakistani people was as well as experience it myself. That was my initial interest. To live with the malangs - and not in the guest-houses and air-conditioned rooms of the Sajjada Nashin -to travel in a qafila, from Shah Jamal in Lahore, for example.

What problems have you faced during the research and in the time you have spent here?There were hardships in the beginning during my early days in the Northern Areas, where I was starving due to the purdah system in Nager. I was not allowed to stay within the family, so I had made arrangements with a policeman to cook a bit of potatoes for me, but I went down to 48 kilograms during that time.

On the other hand, in Hurbund people showed me a lot of hospitality. They cared for me in a fantastic way and I can only praise the hospitality of people here. There were only a few ugly incidents. I remember coming back immediately after 9/11 and in 2002 there was a street urchin in Lahore who was throwing all sorts of dirty things at me. That was the single ugly incident, but that was my own fault because I was too visible as a foreigner taking a picture on that occasion.

You have probably travelled more of Pakistan than most people in this country. What are your perceptions and opinions about people and places?I know about the problems and I see them-over-population, pollution, crime-but despite that there is so much warmth and emotional interest in other people; in communicating with other people. There is a different quality of friendship among Pakistanis and between me and my Pakistani friends.

If there was one thing I would single out from every part of Pakistan, it would be the character of Pakistani people which I really miss in Germany. The Balochis, Pukhtun, Sindhis and Punjabis all have their own characteristics. The Punjabis have a great sense of humour and their love of food.

If you had to name one of all the Sufi shrines you have visited in Pakistan, which is your favourite and why?I don't want to name just one shrine. From the point of architecture, the shrine of Mian Mir in Lahore has a fantastic serenity and tranquillity around it and my mentor- she was not my teacher but my mentor- Prof. Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, the famous German scholar, that was also her favourite shrine. But because I love the practiced forms of Islam and the vivid life of devotion, my favorite shrine is that of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif. Although from an artistic point of view it does not offer much nowadays, it has this immense energy of life around the shrine during the urs.

How do Pakistani Sufi practices differ, in your opinion, from Sufi practices in Iran, Egypt or Turkey?I think Sufism and Islamic mysticism is extremely vivid and colourful in Pakistan. The aspect of devotion is more emphasised here. The amount of emotional appeal is more intense than Afghanistan, Iran or Turkey. There it can be more intellectual, more sober and less colourful.

There is also the power of music. We should not forget that the most well-known and most well-respected exponents of Sufi music come from Pakistan-Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan and of course, Abida Perveen, the biggest and the best Sufi voice. This aspect of music and rendering the verses of the Sufi poets is a message that Pakistan can convey to the outside world. This sort of peaceful, soft approach to religion is really very much embedded here, even if it is contested.

There are those who frown upon the Sufi way of following Islam. As someone who came in as an objective observer and has embraced the faith and society, what is your opinion on this issue?I know people frown upon the Sufi tradition and there are things which they don't consider Islamic. They say it is, so to speak, not 'true' Islam. But there is always the question of who has the authority to say what is Islam and what isn't. I think one should listen to the people themselves. The common people in the countryside, even among nomads, the Islam they are practicing, they are of the opinion that this is the right Islam. There are different dimensions. There is the official, normative, scriptural forms of Islam but there are also the more vernacular and popular forms of Islam as practiced at the shrines and in the villages and there is also the Sufi tradition.

Nowadays, there are very well-educated Sufis in western suits, carrying briefcases, going to London. They are members of Sufi tareeqas and silsilas. So I think the Sufi tradition is perfectly adjusted to the modern way of life. Now, we have a transnational Sufi network. In fact, this esoteric view of Islam is really at the core of Islam and the Sufis are much more into prayers and religious observances than 'normal' Muslims.

You mentioned that there are parallels in other religions in South Asia of the sort of popular art studied in your book. Why do you think this art form is so popular despite certain conservative views of Islam in Pakistan that despise figural representations?Again the orthodox and official voices of Islam have always been critical of images. There is the so-called prohibition or ban on images in normative, official Islam. They are even sometimes considered haram. In effect, the hadith addressing this issue was concerned with the mosque and other religious places where it was not allowed to exhibit any paintings or depictions of human beings.

In the history of Muslim art you have figural representations all over, on carpets, in the courtly arts of the Mughals, Safawids and Ottomans, you have all these depictions of human beings in popular expressions of faith. Be it Islam or any other religion, there was always a demand on the popular level to make the saint more apparent, to bring him closer to the simpler minds of the people.

It was always controversial and there were also periods in Muslim history where there was more tolerance towards images. Then the Taliban were destroying the Buddha images in Bamiyan and there was a hue and cry raised against that.

There is always a controversy about who has the right to define Islam but it is all about accepting differences. I am just exhibiting the posters and researching them because they are part of a certain aspect of popular Islam. Not all the Muslims in Pakistan share these beliefs and, of course, it is more in the disprivileged social classes in Pakistan, the common people in the streets, they purchase and use these posters as a tabarruk to express their personal religious identity.

As a professor and teacher, what advice would you give students planning on doing similar research?If I'm addressing a class of German students, I would advise them to try and convey sympathy and empathy. I think this is the order of the day: Muslims and people in western countries all have to realise that in this global age we all have to live with differences.

People like Baba Bullay Shah have given us examples and models in the way that people from different religions should sit together on equal terms. They should not develop hate and animosity and they can all benefit from meeting each other and exchanging views in a liberal way. That, in short, is my philosophy.

Friday, October 27, 2006

THE 90-year old 'Baul' Shah Abdul Karim has written and composed about 1500 songs. Six books of his songs -- Aftab Sangeet, Gano Sangeet, Kalnir Dheu, Dholmela, Bhatir Chithi and Kalnir Kooley -- have been published. Bangla Academy has translated 10 of his songs in English and he has been honoured with the prestigious national award -- Ekushey Padok in 2001.

Shah Abdul Karim's songs such as Maya lagaisey, Ami koolhara kolonkini and Gari choley na have attained popularity among music fans of this generation. Quite a few contemporary artistes and musicians have shot to fame rendering Abdul Karim's songs -- often re-arranged or remixed. His songs, following the trend of Sufism, stand out for their extraordinary metaphors, message of secularism and depiction of divine love in simple words; a reason why his music has a mass appeal.

As a tribute to the living legend, Sound Machine has released an album titled Jibonto Kingbodonti: Baul Shah Abdul Karim. The mixed album features renditions of Abdul Karim's familiar songs by celebrated as well as emerging artistes -- Bangla, Momotaz, Dalchhut, Maqsud, Dilruba Khan, Shandipon, Ajob, Oojaan, The London Underground and others.

The opening song Agey ki shundor din kataitham, re-arranged and performed by Oojaan gives the album a lukewarm start. This well-known song, addressing the once thriving harmony among Muslims and Hindus in the rural areas, is not slow paced but Oojan's rendition lacks the exuberance manifested in Abdul Karim's songs.

The next song, Ami tomar kaul-er gari however, sweeps one away. The song, re-arranged by Bappa Mazumdar and rendered by Momotaz, follows the genre of Dehotatwa, a sect of Murshidee. Much has been said about Momotaz and her "questionable" songs that have fetched her mass popularity but her performance in this song should be enough to demonstrate that given opportunities, she can work wonders. Her not so stereotypically melodious, yet powerful voice questions the divine will in the song.

Pradeep Kumar and The London Underground deliver a very appealing and hum-able version of Kano piritee barailarey bondhu. Pradeep's skillful vocals epitomise the eternal yearning for the beloved. The fusion number aptly uses several sounds effects and alaap.

Bangla performs Shokhi kunjo shajao. Anusheh's inimitable style and flawless rendition is nothing new to the listeners; only one predicament -- the number sounds more like the songs Bangla usually performs and less like a Shah Abdul Karim song.

Manush hoye talaash korley, re-arranged and rendered by Ajob highlights spirituality. Ajob uses the serene style of Lalon songs, which makes the song interesting and easy to the ear.

Dilruba Khan renders Ailaye na. The tune of the song sounds somewhat similar to another number in the album -- Bashonto batashey, rendered by Shandipon. Dilruba's breathy vocals and emotive expressions make her version memorable.

The album has 12 tracks in total and can be a treat for music aficionados of all cults. Different artistes, groups and musicians add their unique touch to the collection. Kudos to Sound Machine for putting together a quality production. Proceeds from the sales of the album will go to Shah Abdul Karim, who is suffering from age-related ailments.

by Sergei Markedonov - special to Russia ProfileWednesday, May 17, 2006

Caucasus Conflicts More Than a Clash of Civilizations

The North Caucasus is often automatically associated in people’s minds with Islamic extremism and 2005 was, indeed, a year of renewed violence as a form of political activity in the region. The tragic events of the October attack on Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, signalled for many that the Russian state’s main terrorist opponents are no longer secular ethno-nationalists, fighting for an independent Chechnya, but rather Caucasian Islamic terrorists, fighting the international war on terror.

In this sense, the Russian North Caucasus is following a road already taken by countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In these areas, the main proponents of terrorism from the 1960s to the 1980s were secular ethno-nationalists, like Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who made use of religious values and slogans as just one tool in their struggle. Beginning in the early 1980s, however, proponents of “true Islam,” like the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad, began playing an increasingly dominant role. The North Caucasus is now experiencing a similar evolution, as the second half of the 1990s saw ethno-nationalism begin to give way to the slogans of “pure Islam.”

Throughout the region’s history, non-religious considerations have had - and continue to have - a significant influence on the formation of values, norms, institutions and ways of thinking in the region. To begin with, self-identification in the Caucasus is based on the principle of blood - identity as connected to family and kinship groups such as clans. This is both a sub-ethnic and supra-ethnic identity. Clans are often divided along geographical lines, with groups that live in the mountains claiming allegiance to each other at the expense of groups who live in the valleys or on the plains. This type of division may also apply to the differences between rural and urban dwellers or nomads and farmers. Additionally, clans may identify with other, larger political or cultural structures that break down along regional lines or particular political beliefs. Clans may determine how open a group of people would be to a modernization project or how tied they are to traditional culture. Family loyalty is stronger than any adherence to aКlarger ethnic or regional grouping, including the nation state.

These divisions all have their roots in history and are not primarily based on religious differences. There have been numerous examples in the history of the Caucasus when ethnic identity or loyalties to different states have caused confrontation between two peoples sharing the same religion. Likewise, there have been cases when religious identity has divided members of the same ethnic group or, on the contrary, united peoples speaking different languages.

Moreover, the idea of a unified and monolithic civilization (Christian or Islamic) based on a common religion is, in many respects, a myth in the context of the Caucasus. Islam in the Caucasus has many faces. There are, for example, the Sufi brotherhoods in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Sufism, which is derived from the Arab word “Suf,” for the wool of the rough garments worn by hermits - is a mystical current in Islam that preaches humility and withdrawal from the vain pursuits of the world. The Sufi brotherhoods in the Caucasus are known as tarikat - from the Arab word Tarik, meaning road or path, as in the road to truth. The teacher, or “murshid,” plays a crucial role in Caucasian Sufism. The most influential Tarikats in the Caucasus are Nakhsbandia and Kadiria. Former Chechen separatist president Dzhokhar Dudayev belonged to Kadiria, as did former pro-Moscow Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov. Doku Zavgayev, another pro-Russian Chechen leader, belonged, instead, to Nakhsbandia.

More dogmatic Islamic theology is also represented in the Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygeya and Karachayevo-Cherkessia, in the form of salifia, or Wahhabism. The Wahhabis oppose the adaptation of Islam to local traditions and denounce the cult of the teacher. One of the greatest political changes in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union is the divide that has split Muslims into followers of traditional local Islam and supporters of the Wahhabi doctrines. Both sides have proven capable of extremist views.

The periodic flare-ups in the latent interethnic conflicts in the Caucasus have involved participants of many different ethnic groups, all sharing the Islamic faith. The Kabardis and Balkars in conflict in Kabardino-Balkaria are both Muslim peoples, as are the rival Karachais and Cherkesses, the Avars and the Chechen-Akkins, the Laks and the Kumyks. Splits between the followers of different sects in Islam have developed into sometimes ruthless and violent conflicts, with the most serious in Dagestan and Chechnya.

As for Christian representatives and groupings in the Caucasus, the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church’s 98 dioceses in the region are much more prepared to engage in dialogue with representatives of traditional local Islam than with Catholic or Protestant preachers. The most consistent follower of this line is Metropolitan Feofan (Ashurkov) of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz. This speaks of a supra-religious identity shared by the traditional faiths and based on perceptions of the historical roots of a faith in the region. In this sense, “old Islam” and the Orthodox Church stand opposed to Wahhabism and Protestant groups such as the Seventh-Day Adventists, Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as groups like the Hare Krishnas.

Appeals to ethnic, religious or cultural identity have always been a response to situations determined by specific historical circumstances. The peoples of the Caucasus might see themselves as representatives of religious “civilizations” (Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist) and, at the same time, as defenders of ethnic interests, citizens of a particular state, participants in modernization or defenders of traditional values. Concepts of ethnic, religious, state and social identity in the Caucasus have always been in flux.

The Caucasus has always been a region of shifting borders and identities. A listing of the various state and administrative-territorial transformations in the region through history would fill a book. The region has never ceased to be a shifting frontier area - not even during the years of Soviet hegemony. In this respect, the ethno-political and religious processes in the Caucasus cannot be reduced to the clash of civilizations scheme involving a conflict between religions. Historically, the Caucasus has been a contact zone for different ethnic, religious, ethno-religious and ethno-social groups, and the interaction between all of these different groups over various historical periods has created the unique mosaic we see today.

Talk: “Living Up to Ustad Nusrat’s Image is Tough” but Rahat Ali Khan is doing just fine without his illustrious uncle.

Life has not been easy, if not tough, for Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the nephew and prodigy of Pakistani qawwali singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He was only 24 when his uncle died, leaving him to take on the mantle of the 700-year-old musical legacy. Since then, the soft-spoken Faisalabad-based Khan has been trying to keep alive the qawwali tradition. He provided the soundtrack for Shekhar Kapur-directed The Four Feathers and his songs like Mann Ki Lagan in Paap and Jiya Dhadak Dhadak in Kalyug have made him a household name. He spoke to Namita Kohli about sufi music and his new album Charkha, The Circle of Life.

You’ve been carrying on the legacy of your illustrious uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan since his death in 1997. How has the journey been?It has only begun. Initially, it used to feel like a burden. But now things are more comfortable, though the pressure to live up to his image continues.

What projects are you working on currently?My solo album Charkha will be out by June this year. The music will be a blend of Arabian, Latin and Spanish influences, but the beat will be ethnic. I have used Baba Bullehshah’s verses and the sufi shora for the lyrics. I also have a few proposals from Bollywood.

What about international projects?In August, I will be touring Canada and America. I am trying to do something new by adding saxophone and guitar to my music to make it more accessible to people.

Do improvisations interfere with the essence of traditional music? Even Nusrat Khan was criticised for such experiments.Even when we improvise, the base is always pure qawwali. Sufi music is spiritual music and it will end only when the link with the soul is absent. These days, the audience wants something different. In the West, I find that the NRI audience appreciates my music.

Are the audiences in Pakistan and India any different? Where do you enjoy performing more?I enjoy performing in India as people understand my music. Many of the musical stalwarts are Indians and the industry here is alive. Also, I am a fan of musicians like Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

You started performing with your uncle at the age of 10. Any childhood memories?He is always there in my sur. But I feel the vaccum sometimes. My journey to reach him will continue till I meet him.

ISLAMABAD: The centuries-old ceremonies of the Urs of great spiritualist and saint Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] began at Noorpur, close to the capital city of Islamabad on Sunday.

Sweat mingles with tears on sun-darkened faces of pilgrims who walk miles, most of them barefoot and clad in rags, destine towards the shrine Hazrat Bari Sarkar [RA] in the hills, around Islamabad every year.

These are Pakistan’s colourful saint-worshippers, adherents of the Sufi branch of Islam. Almost one Million pilgrims from home and abroad arrive to pay homage at the silver-mirrored mausoleum of 17th century Sufi saint Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi [RA], best known as Hazrat Bari Imam [RA].

People have been coming to the shrine of the great saint for centuries.

The annual pilgrimage to Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] is undertaken over five days surrounding the anniversary of the saint’s death each May. Each night at the shrine, a large number of pilgrims twirled to rapidly beating drums. Others carried miniature golden mausoleums garlanded with yellow and green streamers and triangular flags bearing verses from the Holy Quran.

The devotees come to make or fulfil “mannats” [pledges] that they would regularly visit the shrine, feed the poor or perform another act if their prayers are answered. “My son wanted to go to Kuwait and he just came back. I promised I’d come to the shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] and donate rice to the poor when he came back,” said Budronisa Yacoub from Lahore to 'Pakistan Times' [Daily Web Newspaper] as she arrived at the shrine on Monday. “If I hadn’t come, I would have been anxious. I would have worried because I made a promise to Allah,” she said, wiping away a tear. “I feel relaxed now.”

As is indexed in the history, Hazrat Bari Imam [RA] was one of the great preachers of Central Asian and Arab who for centuries travelled through South Asia spreading Islam.

During the 17th century, thieves and outcasts occupied Noorpur Shahan village at the edge of Islamabad. While travelling though the area, the great saint, who had migrated to the densely thick underwood isolated terrain, now known as Islamabad from his origin, a village in Chakwal area, was stunned by the habits of those living among the natural beauty of the Margalla Hills. He decided to stay and teach the people about Islam. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who was devoted to spreading his empire, originally built the silver-mirrored shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam [RA].

It has been renovated and is now is maintained by the government. Inside the mausoleum, where the great saint rests, only men are permitted, a steady stream of worshippers enter and exit, most bending to kiss and strew rose petals on the green cloth covering the grave of Hazrat Bari Sarkar [RA]. Reciting verses from the Holy Quran, women view the grave through a glass window, which many touch and kiss while praying for the blessings of Almighty Allah.

The faithful read from one of the hundreds of the copies of the Holy Quran, the moment when one leaves after recitation. Some simply sit in silence as mark of respect for the great saint, taking a moment to say a final prayer and to collect the inspiration and strength to make the journey back home.

Thousands of people thronged the shrine of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif, better known as Bari Imam, on the first day of annual Urs at Noorpur Shahan Village here on Sunday.

The three-day Urs began with the beat of drum and Dhamals (dances) to pay tribute to the most famous and revered saint of Potohar region.A ceremony of Chadarposhi was held in the shrine. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion. He was accompanied by caretaker of the shrine Raja Sarfaraz.Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro will be the chief guest at the concluding ceremony on 18th.

Some 500 ‘Dalian’ (rallies), each comprising about 50 people, reached the shrine from various parts of the country. Most of the devotees travelled on foot in memory of the saint who was famous for travelling long distances on foot.The devotees, carrying the replica of the shrine, sang devotional songs and danced to the beats of the drums.Some of the devotees were seen collecting ‘Langar’ (food) distributed at the shrine, while others were offering prayers.

According to a rough estimate, some 200,000 people, including women, children and aged persons, visited the shrine on the first day of Urs.

The Urs of Hazrat Bari Imam has become one of the major events of the capital as thousands of devotees from all over the country take part in it every year. A number of free medical camps have been set up on the premises of the shrine to provide first aid, if required. The Capital Development Authority has provided a tanker to provide drinking water to the devotees. Hundreds of tents and sheds have been installed in the open field around the shrine for providing accommodation to the devotees, who will stay for six days.

The capital administration has also made special arrangements. Close circuit cameras, scanners and walk-through gates had been installed at the entrance and other points of the shrine to keep a vigil on terrorists.

The five-day annual urs (death anniversary)of Shah Latif Bari Qadri (Bari Imam) will begin today(Sunday) in Islamabad, where the National Assemblyspeaker will attend as chief guest.

Annually, thousands of people from all over thecountry participate in the urs to pay homage to thegreat Sufi saint who lies buried at the historicalmirror-studded shrine in Nurpur Shahan, a village atthe foot of the Margalla Hills. This year, theIslamabad District Administration (IDA) and theDistrict Auqaf Directorate has made strict securityarrangements for the event.

Bari Imam, whose real name is Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi,was born in 1617 AD (1026 Hijra). His father, SyedMehmood Shah, shifted his family from Jhelum districtto Baghan village (Aabpara), which was barren at thetime. Mehmood Shah began farming in the area, where healso raised some domestic animals.

In his early years, Shah Latif helped his father in the smallestablishment where he would take the animals forgrazing. When he reached the age of twelve, however,he left his father and went to the village of NurpurShahan, and later to Ghaur Ghashti (now Attock), wherehe stayed for two years studying fiqh, hadith, logic,mathematics, medicine and other disciplines, as GhaurGhashti was an educational centre of its time.

To obtain spiritual knowledge and satiate his love forIslam, Bari Imam visited many places such as Kashmir,Badakhshan, Bukhara, Mashhad, Baghdad and Damascus,where he met great scholars. Later, he went to SaudiArabia to perform Haj. Bari Imam’s spiritual mentorwas Hayatul Mir (Zinda Pir), who gave him the title of‘Bari Imam’, which proved his link to the Syed family.Through his Islamic lectures at Nurpur Shahan, BariImam inspired thousands of Hindus to convert to Islam.

Legend has it that the Mughal emperor AurangzebAlamgir had visited Nurpur Shahan to pay his respectto Bari Imam.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Spanish capital, Madrid, will host on May 19-28 the first Moroccan Spanish cultural festival, to reinforce cohabitation between the two peoples. Organised by a group of Moroccan associations in Spain, the event will take place under the theme “To Consolidate Cohabitation”.

The programme of the festival schedules round tables, Moroccan traditional and modern music concerts, fashion shows, sports competitions and activities for children.According to the organizers, the festival aims at reinforcing cultural ties between Moroccans and Spaniards and creating a space of meeting and conviviality between the two cultures.

A large part of the festival is devoted to Moroccan music, with shows of Sufi, Gnawa, Malhoun, Rai and popular Music. Several music groups will participate in this cultural meeting, including Said Oughassal, Gnawa dar jamai, Nass El Ghiwane, Raiband and Jadwane.

The festival will be closed on May 28 with crowning moments with the Sufi group “Belkhayat” and the “Tetouani” group of Andalusian music.

The public will also have the opportunity to get to know the wonders of Moroccan fashion, through shows on May 20, 22 and 26. The organisers will spotlight the mixture of tradition and modernity of the uncontestable success Caftan.

Summer Snow is a relatively simple novel crafted around universal themes: cross-cultural love, first loyalties, governmental duplicities, contemporary lists of nasties, and a chase in search of an errant nuke.

William T. Hathaway is a very interesting man, too. Tested as a special operations warrior in Vietnam and Panama, he is now a strong anti-war activist.He wrote Summer Snow during a year-and-a-half in the country that forms his stage.

That stage is Kyrgyzstan, a central Asian relic of the defunct Soviet Union. History is very deep out there. Mountains and crags and roadless wilds dominate the landscape. The Silk Road that once connected Europe to the silks and spices of Asia passes through. For most of modern history, little of note to outsiders happened there. Kyrgyzstan is on top of Afghanistan and provides funnels in and out of that troubled conglomerate of tribal allegiances so recently unknown to most Americans. The only bridge into northern Afghanistan leaves from Kyrgyz soil.

The Soviets had a number of missile silos in Kyrgyzstan. It is one leftover warhead that provides focus for Summer Snow's chase.

Add in one complexity to differentiate Summer Snow. The heroine, Cholpon, imbued with requisite dark-haired, dark-eyed exotic central Asian beauty is also a devotee of Djamila, an older woman and Shakya, head of an all woman order. Djamila has fashioned a fusion of Islamic Sufism, Hindu mysticism, and Transcendental Meditation (TM). Djamila knows how to save the world. Her women are both devoted and industrious.

The American protagonist, Jeff, is a battle-worn veteran of special operations, Vietnam and such, now retired somewhat. As a rather standard, densely-headed American, a bit on the "ugly" side, he needs some convincing that Djamila's version of TM will lead those who stole the nuke to give it back and go away quietly.

There are interludes with Cholpon, naturally.

For those, such as myself, fascinated with Central Asia and its spiritual disciplines, Summer Snow is a compendium. The mix of Sufi, Hindu, and TM ideas takes some suspension of credulity at the start but then flows relatively seamlessly to the denouement.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

If you thought it was only his hairstyle that stands out in a crowd, wait till you actually speak to Makrand Deshpande. He thinks, acts and lives differently.

An actor par excellence, a Sufi at heart and a nonconformist to the core, Deshpande happily lives in his own world of fantasy while life happens to him. And on rare occasions when someone wakes up this dreamer, he shares his love for life and more...

Destiny's will: I was a cricketer. In fact, there was a time when my parents got quite worried because I'd got into college through sports quota but I graduated as a dramatist!

There was a room next to my college gym from where you could hear all sorts of noises coming out throughout the day. I was curious so I inquired and found out about a group rehearsing for a play. Somebody asked me to take a chance and I did it. I guess I was destined to be here.

Stage talk: Theatre is my highest priority. I enjoy being a part of any healthy creation, be it through acting or directing, writing or singing. For me, life matters more than a character.

So I've never aspired to be an important figure or waited to be a 'kalakar'. I was happy being a 'seh-kalakar' also. I believe, the more you live or the way you live is the way you create. I only do work that gives me pleasure.

Filmi funda: One good thing about Bollywood is that once you are in it, you never go out. But my love for theatre has restricted me to make long commitments anywhere. Bollywood was a sweet serendipity to me. It has given me popularity, money and recognition.

I was always called a good luck actor and in fact Mukesh Bhatt actually calls me a 'lucky mascot'. I am just choosy about time and not a character. If I have time and need the money, I will surely do a film.

Love bytes: I do believe in 'love at first sight'. There is a chemistry that's like lightening. I can see a photo and feel that chemistry, but I can't explain it to you. Of course, I've fallen in love, but I don't have a follow-up theory in life. I have a time theory. If time and situation favours you, it will work.

Fixed image: You can't help it if people slot you. After all, who has the time to understand you? It doesn't bother me. People often perceive me as a serious actor, an intellect... and turn quiet on the sets, only to realise that I am the first one to have some masti.

Soul curry: I am a Sufi in my approach but also a doer. Any fantasy that I have, (I don't just dream about it...) I turn it into reality. I love to absorb life and then project it my way. Though a little moody, I am otherwise a calm, fun-loving and private person. I like to live life and not analyse it.

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘Sufi’? Esoteric whirling dervishes, sacred saints or Abida Parveen? Well, Sufism seems to be the flavour of the moment. From Kailash Kher’s music to Manish Malhotra’s designs, everything seems to have a Sufi influence.

“Sufism has been in existence in the communication arts for a long time now. The trend is definitely spreading but doing it just as a fad makes no sense,” says director/designer Muzaffar Ali who is working on a script on the works of the Sufi poet Rumi.

According to him, even Rabindranath Tagore and Raja Ram Mohan Roy were influenced by the tenets of Sufism. “You need to have the passion to follow it, be it music or any other art,” he says.

Sufism can be traced back to the 8th century, when Sufis were known as individuals trying to connect with God without following any particular religion. It produced a large body of poetry, with poets like Bullehshah, Rumi and Amir Khusro being hailed as the icons of Sufism. “Sufism means eternal love. You can see madness in a pure Sufi’s work — be it music, painting or any other art,” says singer Kailash Kher.

Though he is now known more for playback singing, Kailash denies diverting from his Sufi style of singing. “You have to constantly evolve. I cannot restrict my music to a dargah by using only a tabla and a harmonium. But dressing in a jeans and a t-shirt and yelling at the top of your voice doesn’t make you a Sufi singer.”

For lyricist Prasoon Joshi, the concept of Sufism is very contemporary. “Sufism suspends the idea of logic. Today, the world is moving towards individualism; the herd mentality is slowly fading. It caters to people who do not believe in religion but feel the existence of a supreme power. I think it caters to the youth. It’s like hip-hop which talks about existence and not about change.”

As far as fashion goes, Manish Malhotra’s collection for Lakme Fashion Week showed Sufi influences. “A friend of mine introduced me to Sufi music, which I find very soulful. For LFW, my collection was a complete package of free-flowing whites with Sufi sounds to go with it,” he says, adding, “though I’m not sure if it will catch on as a trend.”

Rabindranath Tagore spent the prime of his life at Patishar of Rajshahi, Shilaidah of Kustia and Shahjadpur of Pabna in Bangladesh. Though he came here to oversee his zamindari, these visits had immense impact on his thought, philosophy and creativity. The Tagore songs composed in this tradition are treasures of our music.

He spent most of the time watching the unique natural beauty, interacting with the bauls and rural bards as well as writing and composing. Most of his popular writings -- from Chhinnapatra to Nobel Prize-winning book Geetanjali -- have spontaneously overflowed through powerful emotions recollected from tranquility of these regions, especially in his poems and songs.

Eminent Tagore singer Sadi Mohammed, who after completing a Master's in Music in Rabindra Sangeet from Shantiniketan is currently teaching as the head of the department of Rabindra Sangeet at Government Music College, said, “Tagore claimed himself as 'Rabi Baul'. All of his devotional songs are based on Sufism. The philosophy and tune of 'baul songs' had an immense impact on Tagore songs. However, folk music of Bengal has been presented uniquely by Tagore like the other music genres, western music, north Indian raga and more, which have been followed in his songs. And the mastery of Tagore is that when he fused the folk music genres of Bengal in his songs, it was quite distinct from the original form. He extensively used tunes and styles from baul, kirtan, shyamasangeet, sari, bhatiali and even kathakata to give his songs a unique flavour and beauty."

Rabindranath was an adherent of 'Brahmo Samaj', to whom music is a kind of devotion. This is similar to 'doctrines of bauls', as the latter also offer the mystic songs as prayer for the supreme God. Tagore's intimacy with bauls such as Gagan Harkara, a disciple of great baul Lalon Shah, Khepa baul and others generated interest in Tagore about baul songs.

And like the bauls' quest for moner manush (urge for reunification of the soul and God), Tagore has also wandered in search of the supreme creator in his devotional songs. Sadi said, "After visiting the then East Bengal in the early 20th century, Tagore was greatly influenced by the bauls, who believe that the mystic creator lives in the soul of human beings. Tagore believed that love is devotion and nature is its background. That is why love, devotion and nature are interwoven in Tagore's songs.

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